Chatelain, Henri Abraham

Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684-1743) was a French-born Huguenot pastor who gained enduring recognition as a cartographer based in the Netherlands. His family fled religious persecution in Paris after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685); he was living in London by around 1710, then to The Hague around 1721, and finally settled in Amsterdam around 1728. Chatelain is best known for his work on the monumental Atlas Historique, a seven-volume series published in Amsterdam between 1705 and 1720. This innovative and exquisitely illustrated work combined finely engraved maps with vignette illustrations and accompanying text that explored geography, history, and ethnology, capturing the intellectual and artistic spirit of the time. Though Henri is often credited as the primary compiler of the Atlas Historique, research suggests it was a collaborative family endeavor involving his father, Zacharie, and his brother, also named Zacharie.