1764 Plan de la Ville de Cayenne

This interesting map of the capital city of French Guiana, Cayenne, is by one of the most important map makers of the 18th century, Frenchman Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. The city depicted was founded by French colonizers in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, approximately a hundred years after the area had been discovered by early French explorers. It served as a notorious penal outpost, and was overrun by indigenous peoples within a few decades. It was rebuilt in the mid-17th century and has remained the capital of the country to this day. The map depicts the city’s defenses and its residential areas. Bellin provides a key at the top of the map with a list identifying structures and their positions, along with a distance legend in French. The elegant small compass rose orients the map NW. Born in 1703 in Paris, Bellin was already making his way in his profession at the age of 18 when he was appointed chief cartographer to the French navy. He was a member of the intellectual elite of