Daniel-Charles Trudaine (; 3 January 1703 – 19 January 1769) was a French administrator and

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. Trudaine was one of the primary developers of the present French road system. He is also known for the monumental ''Atlas de Trudaine'' ("Trudaine Atlas", also known as "Trudaine Road Maps"), made under his direction.

Life

Trudaine was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the son of Charles Trudaine, ''prévôt des marchands de Paris'' (

provost of the merchants of Paris Provost is a title held by the civic heads of local governments in Scotland. It is similar in use to the title of mayor in other parts of the English-speaking world. In the 32 current unitary councils in Scotland, the title is often used for ...

). Daniel-Charles was a ''conseiller'' in the

Parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

of Paris, then ''

intendant An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

'' of the

Auvergne Auvergne (; ; or ) is a cultural region in central France. As of 2016 Auvergne is no longer an administrative division of France. It is generally regarded as conterminous with the land area of the historical Province of Auvergne, which was dis ...

from 1730 to 1734. In 1743, he was named an honorary member of the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

. In the following year, he was made director of the Assemblée des inspecteurs généraux des ponts et chaussées (Assembly of General Inspectors of Bridges and Roads), a title he held until his death. He founded the

École nationale des ponts et chaussées École nationale des ponts et chaussées (; ; abbr. ENPC), also nicknamed Ponts (), formerly known as École des Ponts ParisTech (), is a grande école in the field of science, engineering and technology, of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, a ...

(School of Civil Engineering) in 1747, with

Jean-Rodolphe Perronet Jean-Rodolphe Perronet (27 October 1708 – 27 February 1794) was a French architect and structural engineer known for his many stone arch bridges. His best-known work is the Pont de la Concorde (Paris), Pont de la Concorde (1787). Early life P ...

, engineer of the

généralité ''Recettes générales'', commonly known as ''généralités'' (), were the administrative divisions of France under the Ancien Régime and are often considered to prefigure the current '' préfectures''. At the time of the French Revolution, ther ...

Alençon Alençon (, , ; ) is a commune in Normandy, France, and the capital of the Orne department. It is situated between Paris and Rennes (about west of Paris) and a little over north of Le Mans. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alen� ...

, as its head. As head of civil engineering for the French state, Trudaine demonstrated his brilliance, creating several thousand kilometres of royal routes (now known as the "''routes nationales''") linking Paris to France's frontiers and main seaports. This network was one of the best designed in Europe, with routes built as straight as possible, laid out "''de clocher à clocher''" (from steeple to steeple), 60 feet (19.4 m) wide, bordered with trees and bound with ditches that were linked to rivers. Trudaine was also responsible for the planning and construction of the Place Royale in

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

and other urban projects. His son, Jean-Charles-Philibert Trudaine de Montigny, succeeded him in his official position.

''Atlas de Trudaine''

The Trudaine Atlas, created from 1745 to 1780, was the most accurate set of

cartographic 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 ...

plans of roads and

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of France made during its period. The scale of the maps show far more detail than is found on the famous maps made by

César-François Cassini de Thury César-François Cassini de Thury (17 June 1714 – 4 September 1784), also called Cassini III or Cassini de Thury, was a French astronomer and cartographer. Biography Cassini de Thury was born in Thury-sous-Clermont, in the Oise depart ...

and family. The 62 bound volumes contain more than 3,000 plates prepared by the central bureau of draftsmen. Each one was artistically hand-rendered with

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

to show the presence and characteristics of the land, waterways, and vegetation; castles, private dwellings, and ruins; churches, convents, and cemeteries; extant roads, as well as planned road projects. Map plates were augmented with designs for locks, bridges, and other civil engineering projects where future improvements were deemed necessary. Trudaine did not live to complete his atlas for all of France; only the 22 regions governed by intendants were completed. (Maps in the atlas do not extend to

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

Provence Provence is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which stretches from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border to the east; it is bordered by the Mediterrane ...

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately . History ...

, and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

or to regions recently conquered by

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 ...

, except for

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

– 3 map sets, and the Upper-Cambrésis (

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

region) – also 3 map sets.) However, more than half of France was covered by his work. Today, Trudaine's immense atlas remains one of the most significant achievements in the development of cartography.

References

External links

BibliOdyssey: ''Atlas de Trudaine''
a variety of examples of plates from the atlas *

at ARCHIM, website of the

French National Archives The Archives nationales (; abbreviated AN; English: National Archives) are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trudaine, Daniel-Charles 1703 births 1769 deaths French civil engineers Ancien Régime office-holders 18th-century French cartographers Members of the French Academy of Sciences 18th-century French engineers