• Title : Carte De L isle de Madagascar dite aujourd hui L Ile Daufine
• Date : 1719
• Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
• Ref:  50631
• Size: 20in x 17 1/2in (510mm x 440mm)

Description:
This large original copper-plate engraved antique map with views of the Island of Madagascar, Southern Africa - with 11 vignettes of peoples & views of the island - was published by Henri Abraham Chatelain in 1719, in his famous Atlas Historique.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: -
Colors used: -
General color appearance: -
Paper size: - 20in x 17 1/2in (510mm x 440mm)
Plate size: - 17 1/2in x 15in (440mm x 380mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

Background: 
Madagascar previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from the Indian peninsula around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90% of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island\\\'s diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population and other environmental threats.
As a result of the island\\\'s long isolation from neighboring continents, Madagascar is home to an abundance of plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. Approximately 90% of all plant and animal species found in Madagascar are endemic, including the lemurs (a type of strepsirrhine primate), the carnivorous fossa and many birds. This distinctive ecology has led some ecologists to refer to Madagascar as the \\\"eighth continent\\\",[26] and the island has been classified by Conservation International as a biodiversity hotspot.
More than 80 percent of Madagascar\\\'s 14,883 plant species are found nowhere else in the world, including five plant families. The family Didiereaceae, composed of four genera and 11 species, is limited to the spiny forests of southwestern Madagascar. Four-fifths of the world\\\'s Pachypodium species are endemic to the island. Three-fourths of Madagascar\\\'s 860 orchid species are found here alone, as are six of the world\\\'s nine baobab species. The island is home to around 170 palm species, three times as many as on all of mainland Africa; 165 of them are endemic. Many native plant species are used as herbal remedies for a variety of afflictions. The drugs vinblastine and vincristine are vinca alkaloids, used to treat Hodgkin\\\'s disease, leukemia, and other cancers, were derived from the Madagascar periwinkle. The traveler\\\'s palm, known locally as ravinala and endemic to the eastern rain forests, is highly iconic of Madagascar.