J P Pinchon - Map Artist
J. P. Pinchon was a French artist and illustrator who also created pictorial maps. The maps shown here not only showed major geographical items, but reported history and culture of the area through the series of insets.
In his map of North Africa, Pinchon has used the shape of the land to help define the layout of the insets... the top follows the north coast. The southern part of the contentent is cut away by using insets.
History and culture show Napoleon Bonaparte in reference to the Egyptian campaign 1798-1801, Hannibal (born in Carthage) and his crossing the Alps with war elephants to invade Rome, Egyptian-syle architecture, important exports at the time, and other tidbits.
The reason I like this map is that it reads almost like a summary reportage of North Africa with several "action" shots... elepahts on the move and the military battle.
In Pichon's Alaska map he show culture as in his North Africa Map above for both Alaska and the nearby Siberia. But he also includes important natural history in the form of the common animals of Alaska. Notice the whale, seals, polar bears, carribou. Also notice penguins in Alaska?
Other things to note...
Pinchon compares the Samoyedes from Siberia to the Eskimos of Alaska.
Salmon is presented not only as the fish, but as the canned good important to Alaska's economy.
The picture of James Cook is prominent. Cook was an English explorer, navigator and cartographer who charted a lot of the Pacific Ocean in the 18th century.
In Pinchon's Mediterranean Sea map he includes the story of Ulysses (or Odysseus) with Polyphemus, the Trojan horse, and the sirens. The colors are great and the scenes are engaging.
To me, this is a really rich map that captures the spirit and history of the Mediterranean Sea!
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