France Antarctique
Dordogne River
Two maps (click for full size) created as part of a project to create a new presentation of Michel de Montaigne’s essay On Cannibals. The first is a map of France Antarctique, located for a time around the bay of present day Rio de Janeiro. This colony’s brief life provided Europe with a lasting image of the new world’s native inhabitants and plays an important role in the early portion of the essay. The second is set of four adapted maps showing our changing perception of topography. Montaigne discusses the natural changes that affect the Dordogne river and these take that idea and extend it over the centuries since the essay’s creation, looking at how our understanding of the river has changed. This same interest is in play on the France Antarctique map as well, being adapted from an early explorer’s map of South America.
The entire essay is available via the Charles Cotton translation at Project Gutenberg, and send a note if there are other portions that you feel could be well presented (map or otherwise).
