French map of Indonesia, Micronesia and the Philippines by cartographer Jacques Nicolas Bellin. Published in Paris around the year 1740 this map was probably based on cartographic information gathered by William Dampier (1651 – 1715), a sailor and scientist, between 1686–1688 when travelling the East Indies. The numbers engraved between the islands represent the number of days it would take for natives to sail between them in the seventeenth century.

Mindanao, shown on the far left in pink, is the major, southernmost Philippine island; the majority of the country’s islands lie to the north and northwest. Hence, the placement of these numerous islands far to the east and south seems very disorienting, for there is nothing in the Pacific Ocean in that area. From a utilitarian point of view, one can only guess that the travel time and orientation between islands trumps their erroneous longitude and latitude positions on the map.

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at age 18, he was appointed hydrographer (chief cartographer) to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Depot des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.

During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Depot was the single most active center for the production of sea charts and maps, including a large folio format sea-chart of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea-atlases of the world, e.g., the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame, distinction, and respect all over Europe and were republished throughout the 18th and even in the succeeding century.

Bellin also came out with smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely detailed charts. He also contributed many of the maps for Bellin and contributed a number of maps to the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost or simply known l'Abbe Prevost.

Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, thus gaining for France a leading role in European cartography and geography. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers of Europe.