| Summary: | 18th century Copper engraving handcolored with watercolor. Outline color. Relief shown pictorially. Contains watermark. Printed in lower left corner: "Le Coste Nord Ovest Dell' America e Nord Est Dell' Asia Delineate sulle Osservazioni de Cap. Cook. Roma. Presso la Calcografia Camerale 1798. Printed beneath border in lower right corner: "Gio. Ma. Cassini Som. inc." Printed in lower right corner is a scale comparing Italian miles to sea leagues. Written in pencil in lower right corner: "Antonio Zatta-1798." Depicts the northeastern part of Russia and Alaska. Alaska is labeled as "Parte Dell'America Settentrionale." Labels Russia as "Parte Dell'Asia." Various islands and regions are labeled including the Bering Strait, the Aleutian Islands as the "Isole Alessiane", and the Gulf of Anadir as "Golfo d'Anadir." Shows the tracks of Captain James Cook's explorations in the 1770s. Title cartouche includes an illustration of four natives on the shore with a basket of fruit and a baby. One native is holding a bow and arrow. A small canoe is visible in the water and mountains are apparent in the background. Prime Meridian: London and Isle of Ferro. Scale c.a. 1:5,5000,000. Giovanni Maria Cassini was a painter and engraver. His works include "L'America," "Calcographia" (1788), "Nuovo Atlante Geografico Universale Delineato Sulle Ultime Osservazioni" (1792-1801), "Carta generale dell Italia" in 15 sheets (1793) and "Stato Ecclesiastico" in 7 sheets (1805) (Tooley, 107; Moreland and Bannister, 73). This map of North Pacific shows the northeast edge of Russia as well as Alaska following explorations made by Captain Vitus Bering in the 1740s and further exploration made by various other explorers including Captain James Cook. By 1798, many misconceptions about Alaska's Aleutian Islands and the outline of its coast had been clarified (Falk, xiii-ix). This map was published in Cassini's "Nuovo Atlante Geografic Universale Delineato Sulle Ultime Osservazioni" vol. 3, map number 12 (Falk, 72). James Cook (1728-1779) was an English navigator and hydrographer who conducted extensive naval expeditions involving the survey of Newfoundland and exploration in the south Pacific Ocean and the northwest coast of North America. Throughout his three major voyages in the 1760s and 1770s, Cook encountered New Zealand, Australia, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Bering Strait. After great success on his second voyage circumnavigating the globe, he was elected to the Royal Society and given the rank of post-Captain. During his last voyage through the south Pacific Ocean and the northwest coast of North America from 1776-1779, he died in a skirmish with native inhabitants of Hawaii on February 14, 1779. Following his death, Charles Clerke took over charge of the expedition (Howgego, 254-58).Source(s): Falk, Marvin W. "Alaskan Maps: A Cartobibliography of Alaska to 1900." New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1983. <br 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. Tooley, Ronald Vere. "Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers." Hertfordshire: Map Collector Publications Limited, 1979.
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