Been wondering about this map hanging on the wall, about four feet tall.
Trade winds and currents…
The Amundsen & Scott South Pole markings show it to be after January 1912, but the land masses seem to be pre-aviation primitive.
Any cartographers out there able to shed some light on this?
being that i haven’t studied french in years i relied on google to tell me that camille vallaux comes from a modest family of suckers.
he appears to have produced a book translated as "general geography of the seas" in 1933. maybe this is from that? "cartes générales des océans" would be general maps of the oceans. librairie hatier is the french publisher.
Cartes générales des océans et des mers.
General map of oceans and seas.
Les courants et les alizés.
Les alizés océaniques.
Currents and trade winds.
Brise.
Breeze. Literal translation of brise but I am not sure of the exact translation for Grandes brises in this context.
Mousson.
Monsoon.
I presume this is on your office wall. Or perhaps your library wall at home. Either way, this is a nice touch. I wanted to be a geographer in my adolescence and I even took a course on making maps so I love geography and maps. I would enjoy such a map.
Try this group Steve
http://www.flickr.com/groups/36521979000@N01/
Clues maybe in background info on the map maker?
Also an apparently similar map (second from bottom of the page) from the same series which sequentially precedes yours.
Last of the sailing ships…my guess.
? Printed in the 1910-1920’s..?
Looks like it is focused on the wind patterns.
Good book on the last of commercial sailing;
"Learning the Ropes"
Nice chart! Where did you see it? at school?
Cartes générales des Océans et des Mers is a set of didactic posters by Camille Vallaux (geographer and oceanographer) and A. Demersseman (lithography), edited by Hatier (Paris) and printed as cardboard card by Gaillac-monrocq et Cie (Paris) in 1930. Dimensions 1 x 1,2 meters.
I’m not sure about the map projection but I guess it is azimuthal equidistant.
"Vidal de la Blache designed a comprehensive approach to ocean geography. Eleven years later, Camille Vallaux was able to go on by bringing out his Géographie générale des mers (1933). Framing the ocean within the water cycle, which foreshadowed current holistic views, all the oceans were described focusing on both their physical features and resource uses." Ocean geography for ocean science, Adalberto Vallega, GeoJournal 47, 511–522 (1999).
By the way, this chart contains the pattern circulation of winds and marine streams in the winter (hiver) of the north hemisphere in spite of the fact that more of 50% of the represented area corresponds to the south hemisphere –> Cultural relativism !!
The legends in the lower right corner are quite fuzzy and difficult to decipher, but I’ve given it a try.
======================
Superficies en kilomètres carrés
Areas in square kilometers
Ensemble des Mers de l’Insulinde
Seas of the Malay/Indonesian Archipelago
(South China Sea, Jolo Sea, Celebes Sea, Makassar Strait, Banda Sea)
————-
Profondeur moyenne de l’Océan Indien: 3929 mètres
Average depth of the Indian Ocean
Profondeurs Maxima
Maximum depths
————-
(le mille marin = 1852m)
Note that it makes sense to use the "mille marin" (nautical mile) even in metric countries like France, as it’s almost exactly equal to one latitude arc minute.
1852*360*60 = 40003.20 kms, while Earth’s meridional circumference is about 40008.00 kms.
————-
PROFONDEURS
Depths
Lignes d’égale profondeur (isobathes)
Equal depth lines (isobaths)
La ligne de 200m est indiquée, puis les lignes de 1000 en 1000m
The 200m contour line is shown, thence a line for every 1000m
————-
COURANTS MARINS
Ocean currents
Directions des principaux courants – [Green arrows]
Main currents’ directions
Les flèches sont d’autant plus rapprochées et plus courtes que les courants sont plus rapides et mieux marqués
The closer and the shorter the arrows are drawn, the faster and more pronounced the currents
les courants de marée, qui ne sont discernables que dans le voisinage immédiat des côtes, n’ont pas été indiqués
Tidal currents, which are discernible only in the coasts’ immediate vicinity, haven’t been marked.
Limites extrèmes de la dérive des glaces vers les basses latitudes [Drawing representing drift ice]
Extreme limit of drifting ice, towards the lower latitudes
————-
COURANTS AERIENS
Surface winds
Directions des vents dominants (Zones [unreadable]tropicales)
Prevailing winds’ directions (XXXtropical zones)
[unreadable]{L/ts|Limites|Lits ??] de dépressions et directions suivies par elles (unreadable)
Atmospheric depression [centers|limits ??] and the directions they follow
Limites des grandes zones de circulation pour l’hiver de l’hémisphere nord (unreadable)
Limits of the major circulation areas for the Northern Hemisphere’s winter
————-
ROUTES DE NAVIGATION
Navigation routes
Routes de navigation à vapeur
Steamer ship navigation routes
Routes de navigation à voiles (unreadable)
Sailing ship navigation routes
Points et zones d’amarrage Capleeuwen (unreadable)
Mooring points and areas
————-
Principaux câbles transocéaniques
Main submarine cables
Escales des câbles
Cable landing points
————-
GRAND PORTS
Large ports
Ports de premier ordre BOMBAY
Main port cities
Ports secondaires MOMBAZ
Secondary port cities
A little googling found me mention of such map,
http://www.inrp.fr/mnemo/web/vueNot.php?index=150435
Maps from Librairie Hatier ("planches didactiques") were used extensively in French schools until the early 1980’s. I grew up learning geography with them. A few are on sale on eBay.fr if you ever were to become a fan. Hatier still specializes in education publishing, but wall maps are nowhere to be found on their website anymore. http://www.editions-hatier.fr/
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