File:Carte physique de la Grande Mer - ci-devant nommée Mer du Sud ou Pacifiq́ue; oú se voient les grandes chaǐnes de montagnes (MAPS 97).jpg

Copper engraving handcolored with watercolor.

Relief shown by hachures.

Printed in lower left below title: "Par Philippe Buache. Publiée sous le Privilége de l'Académie du 4. Septbre. 1754.

Printed in bottom right corner outside neat line: "Gravé par Desbruslins, Pere, 1757."

Printed in center of bottom edge is inset map of Antarctica: "Carte de la Mer Glaciale Antarctique."

Printed right of inset map depicting Antarctica on bottom edge: "Avertissement. Il y a dans cette Mer surtout, quelques Isles, Bancs et Réciss, marqués d'aprés les meilleurs matériaux Géographiques, qui pourroient avoir une position un peu differente. Il y en a meme dont les Navigateurs moderns doutent de l'existence. Il seroit á souhaiter au'ils fissent part de leurs Journaux et "Observations, afin qu'on puisse en faire usage pour les Cartes Marines Physiques de ces memes Mers qui devoient paroitre sans un accident imprevu."

Printed within inset map within Antarctica: "Pais trés élevé selon Abel Tasman que l'on considere coe la Tete des Mgnes. qui bordent et qui correspondent aux Cordelieres. Terreins élevés d'oú s'écoulent la plus gde. partie des Eaux dans la Mer Glaciale conjecturée."

Printed in upper left corner outside border: "On peut rapporter á cette Mer le Bassin Terrestre des deux Gds. Fleuves de la Chine que l'on regarde ordinairemt. comme étant de la Mer des Indes."

Printed in upper right corner outside border: "Le Pole Austral donné ici par extrait se voit en détail sur une Carte particuliere, avec des Obsons. Physiqes. qui ont servi á fixer une Mer Glaciale."

Written in pencil in lower left corner: P Shows proposed underwater mountain terrain in the Pacific Ocean based on the geographic location of mountain ranges in Asia and South America, islands, sandbanks and shoals. Also depicts eastern Asia, islands southeast of Asia, Australia, western North America and western South America. In North America, Alaska is shown incorrectly in shape and labeled as "Presqu Isle du Nord-Ouest." The Straits of Juan de Fuca and Martin d'Aguilar are shown as is California and the apocryphal Mer de l'Ouest. The Galapagos Islands are shown off the west coast of South America and the Isle d'Ieso is shown north of Nipon (Japan). Australia and Tasmania are shown with partially explored coastlines. The inset map depicts Antarctica as well as New Zealand, the southern tip of South America, the southern tip of Africa and the southern edge of Australia.

Philippe Buache (1700-1773) was a French publisher and cartographer. He was the Premier Géographe du Roi in 1729 and a member of the Academie des Sciences in 1730. He was also the son-in-law of Guillaume de L'Isle and republished much of De L'Isle's work as well as maps by Jaillot (Tooley, 86-7). Buache is well-known for applying theory to "the physical aspects of geography, especially relating to mapping of the submarine world and devising methods of indicating underwater contours" (Moreland and Bannister, 134). He is also known for creating rather inaccurate maps, especially those of the South Pacific, Australia and northwest North America. He promulgated apocryphal accounts of geography in northwest North America based on reports from Bartolomé de Fonte and Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado (Howgego, 673-4; Wagner, 331, entry 550). His works include "Isles de l'Amérique" (1724), "Martinique" (1732), Maps of Australia and the Southern Hemisphere (1739), "Nouvelles Découvertes au Nord Amerique" (1753), "Atlas Physique" (1754), "Atlas Géographique et Universel" (1762), and "Atlas Géographique de Quatre Parties du Monde" (1769-99) (Tooley, 86-7; Moreland and Bannister, 134). [An earlier state of t]his particular map was published in Buache's atlas, "Cartes et tables de la geographie physique ou naturelle" in 1754 (David Rumsey Cartography Associates; National Library of Australia). It has a number of peculiarities in geography including its depiction of the Mer de l'Ouest and the use of Bartolomé de Fonte's apocryphal account, evident in the place names for the Los Reyes river, Lac Belle, and the Golfe et Archipel St. Lazare (Wagner, 331, entry 550). Source(s): David Rumsey Cartography Associates. "David Rumsey Collection: Carte physique de la Grande Mer ci-devant…" Accessed 27 Jan 2009. Howgego, Raymond John. "Encyclopedia of Exploration to 1800: A Comprehensive Reference Guide to the History and Literature of Exploration, Travel, and Colonization from the Earliest Times to the Year 1800." Potts Point, Australia: Hordern House, 2003. Moreland, Carl and David Bannister. "Antique Maps: A Collector's Handbook." New York: Longman Group, Ltd., 1983. National Library of Australia. "Digital Collections - Maps-Buache, Philippe 1700-1773. Carte physique de la Grande Mer." Accessed 27 Jan 2009. < http://www.nla.gov.au/cdview/nla.map-rm2837&mode=moreinfo>. Tooley, Ronald Vere. "Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers." Hertfordshire: Map Collector Publications Limited, 1979. Wagner, Henry R. "The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the year 1800 Volume 2." Berkeley: University of California Press, 1937.

• Subjects (LCSH): Pacific Ocean-Maps-Early works to 1800; Antarctica-Maps-Early works to 1800
• Categories: Polar Projection; Cartographic Curiosa; Northwest Passage; Mythical Places; Pacific Northwest