La Champagne by Le Rouge, 1748

La Champagne by  Georges-Louis Le Rouge, 1748.

This map of Champagne shows the Champagne-Ardennes and its neighboring regions in North-East France. The region is known for its production of sparkling wine which derives its name from here. The border around the map contains the latitude and longitude coordinates of the area. Regional boundaries are represented by a dashed line that is further emphasized with hand color, and the province names are written in capital letters and they are curved. The area's many rivers are also drawn, with their names written in italics. Champagne is located approximately one hundred miles from Paris and has been a crossroads of major military and trade routes for centuries. 

George-Louis Le Rouge (c.1707-c.1790) was born in Hanover, Germany, where he was a military engineer and surveyor. Around 1740 he moved to Paris, where he established himself as a cartographer, engraver, and book seller. He was a prolific worker, producing thousands of maps and diagrams, during his career. Le Rouge also devoted countless hours into translating English books and maps into French. He received the title of Geographe du Roi (Geographer to the King), for his diligence. In 1780 he made the acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), who was then acting as the Ambassador to France. Le Rouge engraved a French version of the Franklin-Folger map of the Gulf Stream, which Franklin presented to the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, in 1785.