This map is one of Atlas du Voyage de La Pérouse. La Pérouse is a French commodore and explorer who was appointed by French king Louis XVI to lead his expedition fleets to sail around the globe in 1785. He strongly admired an English captain, James Cook, wishing to complete the cause of Pacific exploration that Cook didn’t, that is, to draw and amend the coastal maps, establish new sailing routes and sign new trade agreements. The Atlas well conserve the coastal maps drawn in La Pérouse’s global voyage, plan maps of cities, specimen samples of plants and animals, maps of landscapes, descriptions on appearances of natives, their canoes, and etc. After a visit to North America, the fleets set out from Monterey at the end of September in 1786. It took over 100 days for them to sail across the Pacific Ocean. Finally in January 1st, 1787, the fleets reached Macau where they sold onboard North American furs and made some scenic drafts. On bottom left of the map depicts Pearl River Estuary while Guangzhou City is not marked out in an exaggerated way as contemporary Europeans did on their maps, but symbolized with a single circle. Outside the Estuary are painted many islands, one of the biggest is also circled as Macau. Obviously, the map designer thought that Macau was the largest island there. On the sea surface to the southwest of Macau, Caolan and Sansian are also put. Especially important is that the depths of watercourses around Macau are kept in details, which is the precious navigation data for later generations.  

This map is a copy of “G420 .L2 Atlas pf”,43rd piece of Atlas du Voyage de La Pérouse, which was later sorted out from Pérouse’s materials and drawn by an anonymous designer. 

Reference:

^[1]. The Journal of Jean-Francois de Galaup de la Perouse, 1785-1788. volume 1-2. (1994). London: Hakluyt Society.

^[2]. Dunmore, J. (1985). Pacific explorer: The life of Jean-François de La Peéouse, 1741-1788. Palmerston North, N.Z: Dunmore Press.

^[3]. La, P. J.-F. G. (1981). Voyage autour du monde: Pendant les années 1785, 1786, 1787 et 1788. Paris: J. de Bonnot.