Nicolas Sanson
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nicolas Sanson (20 December 1600 – 7 July 1667) 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 ...
who served under two kings in matters of
geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
. He has been called the "father of
French cartography The history of French cartography can be traced to developments in the Middle Ages. This period was marked by improvements in measuring instruments and also by an upgrade of work in registers of all types. What is thought to be the oldest land map ...
."


Life and work

He was born of an old
Picard Picard may refer to: Places * Picard, Quebec, Canada * Picard, California, United States * Picard (crater), a lunar impact crater in Mare Crisium People and fictional characters * Picard (name), a list of people and fictional characters with th ...
family of Scottish descent, at
Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...
, on 20 (or 31) December 1600, and was educated by the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
at
Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...
. In 1627 he attracted the attention of Richelieu by a map of
Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
which he had constructed (or at least begun) while only eighteen. Sanson was royal geographer. He gave lessons in geography both to
Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...
and to
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 ...
; and when Louis XIII, it is said, came to Abbeville, he preferred to be the guest of Sanson (then employed on the fortifications), instead of occupying the lodgings provided by the town. At the conclusion of this visit the king made Sanson a councillor of state. Active from 1627, Sanson issued his first map of importance, the "Postes de France", which was published by Melchior Tavernier in 1632. After publishing several general atlases himself he became the associate of Pierre Mariette, a publisher of prints. In 1647 Sanson accused the Jesuit Philippe Labbe of
plagiarizing Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of anothe ...
him in his ''Pharus Galliae Antiquae''; in 1648 he lost his eldest son Nicolas, killed during the
Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in the Kingdom of France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The government of the young King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition ...
. Among the friends of his later years was the great Condé. He died in Paris on 7 July 1667. Two younger sons, Adrien (d. 1708) and Guillaume (d. 1703), succeeded him as geographers to the king. In 1692 Hubert Jaillot collected Sanson's maps in an ''Atlas nouveau''. See also the 18th-century editions of some of Sanson's works on Delamarche under the titles of ''Atlas de géographie ancienne'' and ''Atlas britannique''; and the ''Catalogue des cartes et livres de géographie de Sanson'' (1702). Sanson's maps were used as a model by his son, Guillaume, and, at least initially, by Duval, his nephew, in his 1664 folio map and 1660 atlas minor map. Outside of France, Sanson influenced the Italian mapmakers
Nicolosi Nicolosi () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about northwest of Catania. Nicolosi borders the following municipalities: Adrano, Belpasso ...
, Giacomo De Rossi (1677), and Paolo Petrini. In England, Blome (1669) used his map. Sanson continued to influence later mapmakers to 1700 through his association with Jaillot and, to a lesser degree, Duval.


Principal works

Sanson's principal works are: *''Galilee antiquae descriptio geographica'' (1627); *''Graeciae antiquae descriptio'' (1636); *''L'Empire romain'' (1637); *''Britannia, ou recherches de l'antiquité d'Abbeville'' (1638), in which he seeks to identify
Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
's
Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...
with
Abbeville Abbeville (; ; ) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of Ponthieu. Geography Location A ...
; *''La France'' (1644); *''Tables méthodiques pour les divisions des Gaules'' (1644); *''L'Angleterre, l'Espagne, l'Italie et l'Allemagne'' (1644); *''Le Cours du Rhin'' (1646); *''In Pharum Galliae antiquae Philippi L'Abbe disquisitiones'' (1647–1648); *''Remarques sur la carte de l'ancienne Gaule de César'' (1651); *''L'Asie'' (1652); *''Index geographicus'' (1653); *''Les Estats de la Couronne d'Arragon en Espagne'' (1653); *''Geographia sacra'' (1653); *''Estats de l'Empire du Grand Seigneur des Turqs ou Sultan des Ottomans en Asie, en Afrique, et en Europe'' (1654); *''L'Afrique'' (1656) * *
''Tables geographiques des divisions du globe terrestre''
(1677). Paris: H. Jalliot. 26 p.


References


Footnotes


Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanson, Nicolas People from Abbeville 1600 births 1667 deaths French people of Scottish descent 17th-century French cartographers People from the Province of Picardy