Search

A series of four maps of the Indian Ocean—one for each quarter of the calendar year—showing the direction and intensity of the winds, including around the seas of Southeast Asia. There are extensive explanatory notes.

In the 18th century, European maps tended to use their own country’s meridian, so on this French map of Southeast Asia longitude is measured from the Paris Meridian. Eleven different scales are also shown.

The arrows on this map show the direction of the seasonal monsoons of Southeast Asia during the late 18th century. Each arrow has a label in French, indicating the month. The hatched sea areas are where the winds always blow in the same direction.

Map marking the routes through maritime Southeast Asia of two delegations: a French delegation from Brest, France to Siam in 1685; and a Siamese delegation from Siam to Brest in 1686. A note next to Aceh records a sea battle against Portugal in 1616.