[MAP / 18TH CENTURY / THE BLACK SEA / CRIMEA / UKRAINE / EASTERN EUROPE] Nouvelle Carte de la Petite Tartarie et la Mer Noire, montrant les Frontieres de l'Impératrice de Russie et de l'Empereur des Turcs, tant en Europe qu'en Asie...

GUILLAUME DELISLE [DE L'ISLE], (1675-1726), Chez Elwe & Langeveld / Renier & Ioshua Ottens, Amsterdam. 

COMPLETE TITLE: [MAP / 18TH CENTURY / THE BLACK SEA / CRIMEA / UKRAINE / EASTERN EUROPE] Nouvelle Carte de la Petite Tartarie et la Mer Noire, montrant les Frontieres de l'Impératrice de Russie et de l'Empereur des Turcs, tant en Europe qu'en Asie, Dessigné selon la proposition de G. De L'Isle et d'autres Auteurs. Carl Christian Franz Radefeld, (1788-1874)

An 18th-century hand-colored copper engraved map of Ukraine and the Black Sea in a fine impression with original hand-coloring in its period. 52x62 cm. In French. Scale: 1/2750000.

Slight stains on the upper margin. Faded on paper. Otherwise a very good map. Rare in original color showing the Black Sea and its surroundings, of the little Tartary and the Black Sea of Delisle republished by Renier and Joshua Ottens. Can be seen on the map, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Natolia, Little Tartarie, Ukraine, and Crimea with contiguous regions and hinterland.

In the century when this map was prepared (18th century), firstly, the territory of Crimea was controlled by the Crimean Khanate, then it was annexed by the Russian Empire on 19 April [O.S. 8 April] 1783. The period before the annexation was marked by Russian interference in Crimean affairs, a series of revolts by Crimean Tatars, and Ottoman ambivalence. The annexation began 134 years of rule by the Russian Empire, which ended with the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Guillaume Delisle was a French cartographer known for his popular and accurate maps of Europe and the newly explored Americas. At 27, Delisle was admitted into the French Académie Royale des Sciences, an institution financed by the French state. After that date, he signed his maps with the title of "Géographe de l'Académie". Five years later, he moved to the Quai de l’Horloge in Paris, a true publishing hub where his business prospered. Delisle's progress culminated in 1718 when he received the title of Premier Géographe du Roi.  He was appointed to teach geography to the Dauphin, King Louis XIV's son, a task for which he received a salary. Again, his father's reputation as a man of science probably helped the younger Delisle. In Delisle's case, it could be said that his accomplishments surpassed his father's. Up to that point, he had drawn maps not only of European countries, such as Italy, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, and Poland, and regions such as the Duchy of Burgundy, but he had also contributed to the empire's claims to recently explored continents of Africa and the Americas.

Publisher: Jan Barend Elwe (177-1815), was a Dutch publisher and bookseller who reissued maps by De l'Isle and Ottens and some other cartographers in the late 18th century. His famous map "Amerique Septentrionale Divisee en ses Principales Parties" was derived mainly from Sanson's and Jaillot's maps of 1656 and 1676. This map was published in 1792 in an Atlas which included 37 other maps of different countries and regions.