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A late 18th century map of Asia, with notes on the principal states, empires and kingdoms of Asia written in French on the right-hand side.

The many navigation aids marked on this map, including bathymetry (sea depth), anchor points, shoals, and elevations of hills, were designed to guide ships around this part of the west coast of Timor. The Dutch fort Concordia is also marked.

Map of Timor with Dutch and Portuguese flags marking military forts. Details are represented pictorially e.g. villages by small houses, forests by trees. There are extensive handwritten annotations, with some text translated from Dutch to French.

The islands on this map were central to conflicts between the European powers over the valuable spice trade of the Maluku or ‘Spice’ Islands. A sea battle between European ships is shown, and there are military forts marked in red on the islands.