Alain Manesson Mallet (1630–1706) was a French

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

. He started his career as a soldier in the army of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. He also served under the King of Portugal, before returning to France, and his appointment to the court of Louis XIV. His military engineering and mathematical background led to his position teaching mathematics at court. His major publications were ''Description de L'Univers'' (1683) in 5 volumes, and ''Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre'' (1684) in 3 volumes His ''Description de L'Universe'' contains a wide variety of information, including star maps, maps of the ancient and modern world, and a synopsis of the customs, religion and government of the many nations included in his text. It has been suggested that his background as a teacher led to his being concerned with entertaining his readers. This concern manifested itself in the charming harbour scenes and rural landscapes that he included beneath his description of astronomical concepts and diagrams. Mallet himself drew most of the figures that were engraved for this book.Mendillo, Michael (2005). ''Celestial Images – Antiquarian Astronomical Charts and Maps from the Mendillo Collection, Boston'': University of Washington Press. pp. 83-84

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Images

File:Alsace map mallet vol4 plate45.png, Map from ''Description de L'Univers''. File:MalletWar0048.jpg, Page from ''Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre'' showing St. George Cathedral in Venice. File:Manesson-Travaux-de-Mars 9684.tif, Page from ''Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre'' showing the fortified town of Alburquerque. File:View of Medina, 1685.jpg, View of

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

. File:Mallet Afrique Ancienne 1719 UTA.jpg, ''Afrique Ancienne'', 1719 File:Map of Persia, 1719.jpg, Map of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. File:View of Persians, 1683.jpg, View of

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

. File:View of Anatolians, Description de L'Universe (Alain Manesson Mallet, 1683).jpg, View of Anatolians. File:View of Egyptians, 1683.jpg, View of

Egyptians Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...

. Treatises on line: http://architectura.cesr.univ-tours.fr/Traite/Auteur/Manesson_Mallet.asp?param=en French military engineers 1630 births 1706 deaths 17th-century French cartographers 18th-century French people {{Geoscience-bio-stub

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