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Franquelin, Jean-Baptiste-Louis
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin, cartographer, royal hydrographer, teacher of navigation (b at Saint-Michel de Villebernin, France 1651; d in France after 1712). The first official cartographer in Canada, Franquelin drew some 50 richly illustrated manuscript maps of New France between 1674 and 1708. Although not published, his maps were important sources for French mapmakers, especially Guillaume Delisle (Carte du Canada, 1703). Franquelin came to Canada as a trader in 1671. Recognizing his talents Governor Frontenac recruited him to draw maps (seeCARTOGRAPHY, HISTORY OF). Between 1674 and 1684 he recorded the explorations of Louis JOLLIET and Cavelier de LA SALLE, and in 1686 Franquelin was appointed king's hydrographer. In 1692 he went to France to complete a series of maps on the New England coast. His wife and 10 of 13 children were to join him the following year but were drowned in a shipwreck. Although he held his Canadian appointment from 1686 to 1697 and again from 1701 to 1703, he never returned, and from 1694 to 1707 he seems to have been working for Louis XIV's military engineer, Vauban.
