Amerique Septentrionale 1660 - The Christina Gallery

Nicolas Sanson (1600 – 1667) was born in Abbeville, France and studied history, turning to cartography as a means of illustrating his historical work.  His career coincided with a period of bold French exploration and expansion, and he is credited with having launched the golden age of French cartography.  Born He prepared a number of beautifully drawn maps, one of which came to the attention of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII.  In 1630, the King appointed him Geographe Ordinaire du Roi, a position which required him to tutor both Louis XIII and Louis XIV in geography.

In all, Sanson produced about 300 maps.  Two maps of North America were particularly influential: Amerique Septentrionale (1650) and Le Canada ou Nouvelle France (1656), the first map to show all the Great Lakes.  Following his death, his two surviving sons succeeded him as royal cartographers and maintained the Sanson family business.

Due largely to the Sanson family map-publishing business, the patronage of Louis XIV, and the work of the newly-formed Académie Royale des Sciences, the seat of cartography shifted from the Low Countries to France in the latter part of the seventeenth century.