The making of Atlas Maritimus (1728): A shift towards commercial geography

Abstract

Atlas Maritimus & Commercialis (1728) is a vast conspectus of the coasts, ports and harbours around the globe, containing a section on sailing directions and over fifty engraved charts. It was first conceived as a means of promoting a new map projection system, for which a group of undertakers (cartographers, booksellers, engravers and a mathematician) obtained a patent in 1721. The enterprise was supported by Edmond Halley, who wrote a short preface to the volume. The charts were available for public view by 1724, but before the volume appeared a change of plan became visible. Over half of the pages are now devoted to a comprehensive account of the geography of international commerce. This article gives the first full account of the evolution of the progress and of a shift in its intended readership. The book was now heavily targeted at the mercantile community as well as the nautical profession. The sources include printed books and pamphlets, newspaper advertisements, and official documents. An age of increasing global commerce demanded a new kind of atlas, which served less as a general gazetteer of individual nations and more as as a guide to world trade.