New Zealand Map 1774 Nautical Chart - Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga

James Cook surveyed New Zealand in 1769 and 1770, and this is the first French edition of his chart, published in Paris in 1774 in the first French edition of Hawkesworth's Voyages, with the engraving by Robert Bénard. It was converted from the English chart that had appeared with the first edition of Hawkesworth's account in London in 1773, and the Hawkesworth account was an instant success that was quickly translated into other languages. Bénard's reputation rested on the more than 1,800 engraved illustrations he produced for Diderot's Encyclopedie, and the French chart carries French place names. It is a nautical chart showing the track of HMS Endeavour with dates and soundings, drawn in 1774, when Cook was already away on his second voyage and no European settlement had yet been made in New Zealand.

Cook reached the North Island at Poverty Bay on 6 October 1769, then sailed on to circumnavigate both main islands, proving that they were separate, divided by the strait now named for him, and that they were not part of a southern continent. The chart's names include the Alps, Mount Egmont, now Mount Taranaki, the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Plenty and Hawke's Bay, and most intriguingly Cape Kidnappers, named after an attempt by Maori warriors to abduct a member of the Endeavour's crew. Cook's Banks Island turned out to be a peninsula, and a possible peninsula to the south was in fact Stewart Island. Over six months Cook surveyed more than 2,400 miles of coastline, the first complete outline of the two islands.

A New Zealander, a student of Pacific exploration, or a collector of French atlases will find a remarkable gift here, whether for a graduation or a retirement. TheMapVault's other New Zealand maps are settler-era maps of towns, counties and provinces, from Black's 1849 sheet to Stanford's 1896 edition; this 1774 chart is the original survey on which they all rest, drawn from the sea rather than the land. It is regarded as the most important single map in the history of New Zealand. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print.