Nicolas Sanson (1600-67)
Profile :
Nicolas Sanson was born in Abbeville where as a young man he studied history, particularly the ancient world, and it is said that he turned to cartography only as a means of illustrating his historical work. For this purpose he prepared a number of beautifully drawn maps, one of which came to the attention of Louis XIII. In due course the King appointed him “ Geographe Ordinaire du Roi”.
In preparation of his major atlas, “Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde”, Sanson employed a number of engravers, one of whom, M. Tavernier engraved important maps showing the post roads, rivers and waterway system of France (1632-34) and a map of the British Isles (1640). In all Sanson produced about 300 maps of which two of North America were particularly influential: “Amerique Septentrionale” (1650) and Le Canada ou Nouvelle France (1656).
After Sansons death the business was carried on by his two surviving sons and grandson, in partnership with A.H. Jaillot. It is generally accepted that the great age of French cartography originated with the work of Nicolas Sanson but credit must go also to A. H. Jaillot (1632 – 1712) and Pierre Duval for re-engraving his maps, many still unprinted after his death, and re-publishing them in face of strong competition from the Dutch, who continued to dominate the market until the end of the 17th century.
Nicolas Sanson (1)
1741 Nicolas Sanson Large Antique Map of Sarmatia, Modern Day Russia & Ukraine
- Title : Sarmatia Utraque Europaea et Asiatica Autore Nicolas Sanson...1741
- Ref #: 50602
- Size: 27in x 20 1/4in (690mm x 515mm)
- Date : 1741
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
Description:
This fine original hand coloured copper-plate engraved antique map of the land of the Sarmatians - today stretching encompassing modern day European Russia and Ukraine and central Asia by Nicolas Sanson, was engraved in 1741 - dated in the cartouche - and was published by Robert De Vaugondy in a re-issue of Sansons atlas Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original & later
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 27in x 20 1/4in (690mm x 515mm)
Plate size: - 19in x 16 1/2in (485mm x 420mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Background:
The Sarmatians were a large Iranian confederation that existed in classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD.
Originating in the central parts of the Eurasian Steppe, the Sarmatians started migrating westward around the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, coming to dominate the closely related Scythians by 200 BC. At their greatest reported extent, around 1st century AD, these tribes ranged from the Vistula River to the mouth of the Danube and eastward to the Volga, bordering the shores of the Black and Caspian seas as well as the Caucasus to the south. Their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia (it included todays Central Ukraine, South-Eastern Ukraine, Southern Russia, Russian Volga and South-Ural regions, also to a smaller extent north-eastern Balkans and around Moldova). In the 1st century AD, the Sarmatians began encroaching upon the Roman Empire in alliance with Germanic tribes. In the 3rd century AD, their dominance of the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Germanic Goths. With the Hunnic invasions of the 4th century, many Sarmatians joined the Goths and other Germanic tribes (Vandals) in the settlement of the Western Roman Empire. Since large parts of todays Russia, actually the land between the Ural Mountains and the Don River, were controlled in the 5th century BC by the Sarmatians, Volga–Don and Ural steppes sometimes are also called Sarmatian Motherland.
The Sarmatians were eventually decisively assimilated (e.g. Slavicisation) and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of Eastern Europe.
