LS Delarochette Cape District Cape of Good Hope This is one of the most fascinating maps of the Cape

This is one of the most fascinating maps of the Cape of Good Hope - a sought-after, historically important, attractive and highly desirable milestone in the history of the Cape and its cartography. 

 Louis Stanislas De la Rochette (who later adopted his wife's surname, D'Arcy, to his first names) compiled his map in 1782, when it first was published with the same title - and published by William Faden. Delarochette used a number of primary sources, some up-to-date and some that were almost a century old, albeit historically important; the map met the English need for a more accurate map of the territory in which it had become increasingly interested.

The map is even more fascinating because it is a cartographic version of an historical novel.  The map includes some of the places visited by Simon van der Stel’s party in their journey into Namaqualand a century earlier. It features the names of some of the first settlers in the area between Table Bay and the Hottentots Holland Mountains (ca. 1675 – 1705). It shows the network of wagon roads in the colony in the 18th century; the routes of a number of these roads are still followed by modern arterial roads.

The map also names places that were prominent in the first scientific land survey, undertaken in 1752 by the French astronomer, Nicolas Louis De la Caille; e.g. Vygekaraal, Contreberg near today’s Darling and the mountain, Riebeeks Kasteel; De la Rochete also shows de la Caille’s terrestrial meridian and, along the right axis, gives its length, across a degree of latitude – an unusual record. Saldanha Bay and the coastline to St. Helena Bay were copied from De la Caille and famous French Hydrographer d’Après de Mannevillette ... and were not accurate.  

This map was published again in 1825 (this example) and 1838 by James Wyld, and then his son. The Wylds generally kpt their maps current but seemingly decided to keep this map as an anachronism. They did, however, remove reference to Dutch occupation of the Cape!

A German edition of this popular map was published by Schrämbl in 1789. As more up to date maps were published, De la Rochette’s attractive and once popular and important map last was published in 1838 and was of historical interest only.

The map has been professionally conserved by cleaning and de-acidification and stabilised b backing onto archival tissue paper. It has also been attractively hand-coloured  it was originally published uncoloured.

References

Tooley p. 40, pl. 

De la Rochette’s map of the Cape of Good Hope. IMCoS Journal 2013; 132: 22 – 27