Guillaume Delisle

Guillaume Delisle (February 28, 1675 - January 25, 1726) was a French cartographer, born in Paris, France (he also died there).

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His father, Claude Delisle (1644-1720) studied law and then later settled in Paris as private teacher in geography and history, and afterwards filled the office of royal censor. He was also a cartographer.

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Guillaume Delisle's first works were "The Map of the World" and "The Map of the Continents", both published in 1700. These and the terrestrial maps produced subsequently, which surpassed all similar publications, established the son's fame. In 1702 he became ?l?ve, in 1716 adjoint, and in 1718 associ? of the Acad?mie des Sciences; and, as the young king's instructor in geography, received the title of First Royal Geographer with a fixed salary, an office which was then created for the first time.

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Guillaume Delisle adopted entirely new principles in cartography and set about making a thorough reform in that subject. The map-publishers of the time did not know how to utilize the material supplied mainly by the French astronomers of the latter half of the seventeenth century, and Delisle recognized that the new methods of measuring by scale and of marking the places were very valuable for cartography; with this help he therefore produced a new and more accurate picture of the world.

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When his astronomical information fell short he carefully examined and sifted all the books of travel and all the maps he could find, and the products of this reading were dovetailed neatly into the facts which he had already at hand. According to a fixed method he worked up the several continents and countries one by one, France in particular. In disputed points he named his source on the map or wrote additional notes, the majority of which were published in the writings of the Academy. One particular recommendation of his charts is that he employed a fixed scale of measurement for regions closely connected with one another. No less famous than his astronomical corrections are the completeness of his topography and the care displayed in the orthography of the names.

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Delisle's Carte d'Am?rique, 1722

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February 28: February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining, 307 in leap years....

January 25: January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 340 days remaining (341 in leap years)....

French: French can refer to more than one article:...

Guillaume Delisle related Images and Photos (experimental)

Claude Joseph Rouget De Lisle Composing the "Marseillaise"	Portrait of Charles Leconte De Lisle (1818-94) 1885	Guillaume Francois Rouelle	Rouget De Lisle (1760-1836) Singing the Marseillaise at the Home of Dietrich Mayor of Strasbourg
Guillaume De Clermont Defending Ptolemais (Acre) in 1291 1845	Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume Zimmermann	Letter from Guillaume Pellicier	Bust of Chretien Guillaume De Lamoignon De Malesherbes (1721-94) 1785
Portrait of Guillaume Du Tillot Marchese of Felino	Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur Frontispiece of His "Sketches of 18th Century America"	Guillaume de Clermont Tries to Defend Acre the Last Christian Possession in Palestine	Frontispiece for an Edition of Le Theatre De P. Corneille Engraved by Guillaume Vallet (1632-1704)