Historic Map : Lapie Map of France in Antiquity (Gaul), 1831, Vintage Wall Art

A fine first edition example of M. Lapie's 1831 map of Gaul. Centered on Gallia Celtica, the map covers all the five parts of Gaul including Gallia Cisalpina, Gallia Narbonensis, Gallia Aquitania and Gallia Belgica. Gaul was the ancient name of a region of Western europe which comprises of modern day France, Luin xembourg, Belgium and Germany west of the Rhine. It also included most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy and parts of Netherland. After the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC, all of Gaul came under the control of the Roman empire It reamined under Roman control for almost 500 years before it fell to the Franks in AD 486. The Gallic Wars are believed to have been fought primarily to provide Caesar with wealth and popularity and to boost his political career rather than being a defensive action as described by Caesar. The campaigns are described by Caesar in his book Commentarii de Bello Gallico.

This map was engraved by Armand Joseph Lallemand as plate no. 06 in the first edition of M. Lapie's important Atlas Universel. This map, like all maps from the Atlas Universel features an embossed stamp from the Lapie firm.