Danville, Jean Baptiste

Born July 11, 1697, in Paris; died there Jan. 28, 1782. French geographer and cartographer. Member of the Paris Academy of Sciences (1773). Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1749).

D’Anville prepared more than 200 maps distinguished for their time by their precision (including General Atlas, 1736–87; New Atlas of China, 1737; and maps for C. Rollin’s Ancient History, 1730–38). D’Anville studied ancient geography and conducted comparative research into old measures of length. He assembled a valuable collection of maps (10,500 maps), which the French Royal Library acquired in 1779.