L’Isle de la Jamaique, issued in Paris in 1779 by the Parisian engraver-publisher Jean Lattré, distills the island’s strategic and economic importance at the height of the late Enlightenment. Adapted from Thomas Jefferys’s influential 1775 survey—originally published by Sayer & Bennett—Lattré’s version reframes a British cartographic authority through a French lens, adding learned annotations and a polished aesthetic. A substantial historical essay engraved on the sheet recounts Jamaica’s trajectory from its 1494 encounter with Christopher Columbus to its emergence as a keystone of Caribbean commerce. The result is both a learned compendium and a masterclass in late eighteenth‑century mapmaking: densely informative, beautifully lettered, and acutely attuned to the island’s geography, politics, and maritime gateways.

The island’s physical grandeur dominates the composition. Mountains are articulated in crisp, hachured relief—most notably the Blue Mountains rising along the eastern spine—while a braided network of rivers fans toward both coasts to feed mangrove-lined bays and alluvial plains. Lattré’s minute treatment of ridges, valleys, and passes renders the island almost tactile, revealing the natural corridors that shaped settlement and trade. Roads, plantations, and churches are carefully located, knitting human endeavor to terrain. A graceful compass rose orients the viewer and underscores the map’s nautical utility, while coastal promontories, offshore islets, and guarded harbors delineate a shoreline tuned to winds, currents, and the rhythms of transatlantic shipping.

Urban and administrative Jamaica is presented with equal precision. Kingston and neighboring Port Royal anchor the southeastern arc, paired as commercial emporium and naval sentinel, while Spanish Town—historic seat of government—appears inland along the road web that radiates to market towns and plantations. On the north and west coasts, Montego Bay, Falmouth, Ocho Rios, and Negril punctuate a chain of harbors servicing sugar estates and inter-island trade. Bluefields marks the southwest, its sheltered waters mirrored inland by a mosaic of parishes and estates. The articulated road system—threading mountains and river crossings—captures the island as a lived geography, mapping the flow of people, produce, and power between plantations, ports, and provincial centers.

Two focused insets deepen this portrait. Bluefields Harbor is shown in intimate detail, its curved shoreline and protective headlands offering a natural roadstead on the leeward coast. Across the island, a complementary inset of Kingston and Port Royal concentrates on Jamaica’s principal gateway: the paired harbors, narrow approaches, and strategic spit that controlled access to the island’s richest markets. Together, these windows illustrate how local topography underwrote global commerce, from provisioning voyages to dispatching sugar fleets. Lattré’s decision to spotlight these sites—one western, one southeastern—balances the island’s maritime economy and highlights the twin engines of Jamaica’s eighteenth‑century prosperity.

Jean Lattré, active in Paris in the mid to late eighteenth century, excelled at translating the best contemporary surveys into elegant, information-forward engravings. Here he preserves Jefferys’s empirical rigor while enriching it with clear French nomenclature, historical précis, and a refined typographic hierarchy. The map sits squarely within the geopolitical ferment of 1779, when Caribbean waters were theaters of imperial rivalry and commercial ambition. Its plantations and parishes speak to the era’s plantation economy, even as the dense topography and crisp coastal delineation reflect the scientific ambitions of Enlightenment cartography. Lattré’s Jamaica is more than an island plan: it is a carefully reasoned diagram of power, production, and passage at the crossroads of the Atlantic world.

Cities and towns on this map

• Kingston — Modern-day population: ~670,000
• Port Royal — Modern-day population: ~8,000
• Spanish Town — Modern-day population: ~145,000
• Montego Bay — Modern-day population: ~110,000
• Mandeville — Modern-day population: ~30,000
• Ocho Rios — Modern-day population: ~10,000
• Negril — Modern-day population: ~3,000
• Falmouth — Modern-day population: ~10,000
• Bluefields — Small population; varies by recent estimates

Notable Features & Landmarks

• Topographical features such as mountains and rivers
• Marked towns and settlements
• Roads connecting various regions of the island
• Location of plantations and churches
• Two inset maps depicting:
• Bluefields Harbor
• Kingston and Port Royal
• Descriptive text detailing the history and geography of Jamaica
• Compass rose indicating cardinal directions

Historical and design context

• Map Title: L'Isle de la Jamaique
• Mapmaker: Jean LATTRÉ
• Year of Creation: 1779
• Publication Details: Rare French map of Jamaica published in Paris; based on a 1775 map by Thomas Jefferys and originally published by Sayer & Bennett
• Historical Context: Lengthy history of Jamaica, noting its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1494
• Design Style: Detailed and elaborate late 18th-century cartographic style with intricate topographical renderings and annotations
• Historical Significance: Reflects colonial interests in mapping and documenting territories during the Age of Exploration, emphasizing the importance of Jamaica in the Caribbean

Looking for a particular place? Review the detailed images to confirm that the town, landmark or feature you have in mind appears on the map. If you are unsure, ask our workshop to check before you order.

Detailed maps are especially rewarding at larger sizes, where names, boundaries and decorative features have more room to be appreciated. Use the close-up preview and size guide to choose the right scale for your wall.

This map looks amazing at sizes all the way up to 100in (250cm). If you are looking for a larger map, please get in touch.

The model in the listing images is holding the 24x36in (60x90cm) version of this map.

Where personalisation is available, you can add a short title or dedication, mark one meaningful place, or request one considered visual detail. See personalised map examples.

Every piece is printed to museum-grade archival standards using fade-resistant pigment inks on acid-free matte paper. Choose an unframed map print, framed map or canvas using the finish options above. Framed maps use crystal-clear optical acrylic and arrive ready to hang.

With its rich detail and strong sense of place, this map makes a considered gift for a new home, anniversary, retirement or anyone with a personal connection to the area shown. Still deciding? Explore our collection of rare old and vintage maps to discover another place, period or style.

This map is also available as a float framed canvas, sometimes known as a shadow gap framed canvas or canvas floater. The map is printed on artist's cotton canvas and then stretched over a handmade box frame. We then "float" the canvas inside a wooden frame, which is available in a range of colours (black, dark brown, oak, antique gold and white). This is a wonderful way to present a map without glazing in front. See some examples of float framed canvas maps and explore the differences between my different finishes.

For something truly unique, this map is also available in "Unique 3D", our trademarked process that dramatically transforms the map so that it has a wonderful sense of depth. We combine the original map with detailed topography and elevation data, so that mountains and the terrain really "pop". For more info and examples of 3D maps, check my Unique 3D page.