Guillaume Delisle

Guillaume Delisle, also spelled Guillaume de l'Isle, or Guillelmo Delille (; 28 February 1675, Paris – 25 January 1726, Paris) was a French cartographer known for his popular and accurate maps of Europe and the newly explored Americas.

Childhood and education

Delisle was the son of Marie Malaine and Claude Delisle (1644–1720). His mother died after childbirth and his father married again, to Charlotte Millet de la Croyère. Delisle and his second wife had as many as 12 children, but many of them died at a young age. Although the senior Delisle had studied law, he also taught history and geography. He had an excellent reputation in Paris’ intellectual circles, and served as a tutor to lords . Among them was the duke Philippe d’Orléans, who later became regent for the crown of France, and collaborated with Nicolas Sanson, a well-known cartographer. Guillaume and two of his half-brothers, Joseph Nicolas and Louis, ended up pursuing similar careers in science.

While his father has to be given credit for educating Guillaume, the boy showed early signs of being an exceptional talent. He soon contributed to the family workshop, by drawing maps for his father's historical works. Some have questioned the authorship of these first maps, saying that Delisle only copied what his father had done before him. In order to perfect his skills, Guillaume Delisle became the student of the astronomer Jean-Dominique Cassini. Early on he produced high-quality maps, the first being his Carte de la Nouvelle-France et des Pays Voisins in 1696.

Career

thumb|right|450px|1700 map by De L'Isle of North America, reissued by Covens and Mortier in 1708.

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. 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, 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.

Like many cartographers of his day, Delisle did not travel with the explorers. He drew maps mostly in his office, relying on a variety of data. The quality of his maps depended on a solid network to provide him first-hand information. Given his family's and his own reputation, Delisle had access to fairly recent accounts of travellers who were returning from the New World, which gave him an advantage over his competitors. Being a member of the Académie, he also kept current with recent discoveries, especially in astronomy and measurement. When he could not confirm the accuracy of a source, he would indicate it clearly on his maps. For instance, his Carte de la Louisiane shows a river that the baron of Lahontan claimed he discovered. As no one else could validate it, Delisle noted a warning to the viewer that it might not exist.

Maps

Louisiana

thumb|right|325px|Delisle's 1718 Carte de la Louisiane

Delisle's 1718 Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississippi is an example of French cartography at its height. It was widely circulated in Europe and remained in print for years, either copied exactly or used as a base map. As a result of its accurate representation of the lower Mississippi and the surrounding areas, Delisle's map became a source map for all succeeding maps of the Mississippi River. It is particularly notable for its relatively accurate depiction of the Gulf area, as well as for its wealth of detail and information. The map is centered on the Mississippi River and the interior of what would later become the continental United States. It spans the area from the bottom of Lake Superior in the north to the point at which the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico in the south; the map also extends from the Atlantic coast, where numerous European settlements had been made, and westward to the Rocky Mountains. The hundreds of labels on the map name lakes, rivers, colonies, cities, forts, mountains, and Indian tribes. It is ornamented with animals, ships, and cities, marked by small squares, circles, or rectangles with crosses on the top. These symbols are defined in the legend, which is located at the bottom of the map. It notes Indian habitations and includes an undulating line to mark the routes of Fernando de Soto and Louis de Moscoso in the area of the Mississippi where they were chased by Indian tribes. Next to the legend is a 16-point compass, placed in the center of the Gulf of Mexico. A fleur-de-lis indicates the geographic north; the magnetic north is omitted from the compass, suggesting that the map was not created as for navigational purposes.

The map itself is quite detailed, covering such vast areas as New France, Greenland, Labrador, Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, and the Great Lakes and Arctic regions. Delisle did not attempt to fill in areas of white space where his knowledge was insufficient, rather he let these spaces remain, a decision indicative of cartographical renewal in France in that period. In spite of these holes and the scientific nature of his map, Delisle's 1703 Carte still contains a large amount of information from Indians and considerations on imperial influence. In at least one instance, Delisle employed information from Indians that was not necessarily confirmed by a European authority. For example, on the map, Lake Winnipeg – marked as Lac des Assenipoils – is shown with its water communication down to the Hudson Bay, information taken from an Indian report rather than one of European discovery. Furthermore, although hundreds of Indian tribes were identified in Delisle's earlier sketches, he consolidated a number of related bands under one heading in his final map. In other instances, information about certain traditional grounds provided in earlier maps, such as those of the Mistassini Cree, was omitted in Delisle's 1703 map either due to famine, disease, or collapse of hunting grounds.

The map provides a large cartouche in the upper left corner, which includes scenes from the New World implying imperial claims. The cartouche was done by the artist N. Guerard and carried the symbol of French royalty. Other parts of the cartouche included a Jesuit missionary performing a baptism of an Indian and a Recollects missionary guiding Indians toward the road to heaven. There is also the image of an Iroquois brandishing a scalp of a Frenchman, and Iroquois on a bed of thistles, a Huron holding rosary beads, and beaver. In this way, the map – which is otherwise relatively scientific – is not entirely depoliticized. In the north, the map goes to the highest point of the Caspian Sea and to the south the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. The name of Persian Gulf in the map is explicitly included as the Golfe Persique.

This map covers areas which today are countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, and the republic of Azerbaijan. The map also contains parts of today’s Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, and the Arabian Peninsula. In the map Delisle has drawn mountains and connecting roads between cities.

Gallery

International

File:Delisle Mappe-Monde 1700 UTA.jpg|Delisle's Mappe-Monde, 1700

File:Delisle L'Afrique 1700 UTA.jpg|Delisle's L'Afrique, 1700

File:PaysBas delisle 1743.jpg|Delisle's Carte des Provinces Unies des Pays Bas, 1702. Posthumous Amsterdam 1743 edition of the original map of 1702

File:Delisle Carte du Mexique et de la Floride 1703 (1745) UTA.jpg|Delisle's Carte du Mexique et de la Floride, 1703

File:Carte d'Amérique dressée pour l'usage du Roy - par Guillaume Delisle... - btv1b8469815q.jpg|Delisle's Carte d'Amérique, 1722

File:1724 De L'Isle Map of Persia (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan) - Geographicus - Persia-delisle-1724.jpg|Iran (Persia) at the end of the Safavid period

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From Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississippi, 1718

Image:Iowa 1718.jpg|Iowa

Image:Wisconsin in 1718.jpg|Wisconsin

Image:Illinois 1718.jpg|Illinois

Image:Michigan 1718.jpg|Michigan

Image:Nebraska 1718.jpg|Nebraska

image:Texas 1718.jpg|Texas

Image:Rio grande in 1718.jpg|Rio Grande

image:Ontario 1718.jpg|Ontario

image:Comanche 1718.jpg|Comanche range

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Legacy

Delisle Inlet in Antarctica is named after Guillaume Delisle.

Bayou DeLisle and DeLisle, Mississippi are both named for Delisle.