French Naval Operations in Spitsbergen During Louis XIV's Reign

Résumé

In 1895 the Secretary of the Geographical Section of the Committee for Historical Works, Dr. Ernest-Theodore Hamy, published a detailed description of a highly unusual naval chart, undated but probably drawn around A.D. 1630. This valuable document, the property of a British collector, showed "without question, Spitsbergen, the name places being partly in French while, in the middle of the chart, is a coat of arms showing the fleur-de-lys in the style of Louis XIII. The map is entitled La France Artique (sic)!" ... To try to establish the exact date or provenance of this chart is beyond the scope of this paper. ... The essential importance of this chart is its spectacular proof of a continuous French presence in the waters and along the coasts of Spitsbergen, throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century.