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1710 Chatelain Map of the Kingdom of Poland (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)
Poland-chatelain-1710
Title
1710 (undated) 21 x 24 in (53.34 x 60.96 cm)
Description
As this map was being printed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was suffering from political and social upheaval. Following the death of King John III Sobieski and the end of Poland's Golden Age, a series of internal conflicts and external invasions destabilized the region to the brink of anarchy. The rapacious Russian empire, under Tzar Peter the Great, used its influence to further weaken the state in anticipation of outright annexation. By 1768 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had become a protectorate of Imperial Russia.
Without a doubt one of the most beautiful 18th century atlas maps of Poland, this chart was issued as plate no. 19 in volume 4 of Chatelain's Atlas Historique.
Cartographer
Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684 - 1743) was a Huguenot pastor of Parisian origins. He lived consecutively in Paris, St. Martins, London (c. 1710), The Hague (c. 1721) and Amsterdam (c. 1728). He is best known as a Dutch cartographer and more specifically for his cartographic contribution in the seminal seven volume Atlas Historique, published in Amsterdam between 1705 and 1720. Innovative for its time, the Atlas Historique combined fine engraving and artwork with scholarly studies of geography, history, ethnology, heraldry, and cosmography. Some scholarship suggests that the Atlas Historique was not exclusively compiled by Henri Chatelain, as is commonly believed, but rather was a family enterprise involving Henri, his father Zacharie and his brother, also Zacharie. More by this mapmaker...