[ROUX, Joseph. Recueil des principaux plans, des ports, et rades de la Méditerranée..., chez Yves Gravier Libraire sous la Loge de Banchi, 1804.]

The French hydrographer Joseph Roux published his detailed chart of the Mediterranean ("Carte de la Mediterranée …") in Marseilles in 1764. It comprises twelve sheets, on which are marked every gulf, port, anchorage and the depths at the shoreline. In the same year Roux published a port index, that is, a volume with separate maps of locations on the Mediterranean coast. It was based on the aforementioned chart and was republished in other cities (Genoa and Livorno). Roux’s port indexes are views of ports, gulfs and bays, with detailed mapping of the waters. In the second half of the eighteenth century, similar works were circulated by J.N. Bellin and later by Allezard. In addition to the information necessary for entering the port, the maps often depict details of city buildings, windmills, plans of fortresses, etc.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou