Jean-Baptist Taberd (Vietnamese name is Tu) was born in Saint-Etienne, Loire district (France) on June 18.6.1794, 27.7.1817. Taberd joined the Foreign Missions Society, headquartered in Paris (MEP), and was ordained a priest on July 7.11.1820, XNUMX. On November XNUMX, XNUMX, he left France for Dang Trong - Vietnam to preach. Taberd made an effort to learn to speak Vietnamese and write in Han - Nom - Latin scripts, and the best learning materials were probably Annam Latin Dictionary of Bishop Pigneau de Behaine. Taberd was mainly concerned with the training of native clergy.
The 1788 map has the line “R. de Saigon” [Saigon River]
Photo: National Library of France
At the end of 1827, Gia Dinh Governor Le Van Duyet returned to the capital to pay homage to Minh Mang. Taberd met him twice. In March of the following year (3), when Le Van Duyet returned to his post, on June 1828, the three missionaries Taberd, Gagelin, and Odoric were allowed to leave Hue and enter Gia Dinh.
HGRAPHIC MAP WITH FULL LOCATION NAMES VN CONTEMPORARY
Map Map of the great country of An Nam (ANĐQHĐ) – a remarkable work of Taberd. Up to the time of publication in 1838, our country had never had a map as large and complete as this one. Analyze and compare it with the map Complete Map of Dai Nam Unification (ĐNNTTD) (1840), an official map of the Minh Mang dynasty.
Place names on the 1838 Taberd map are all written in Chinese, but ANĐQHĐ are written in the Latin national language, both administrative and common names, plus place names given by foreigners. For example: Thach Bi Mountain (Chinese) has the common name Mui Nai (Nom) and is called Cap Varella in the West.
Bishop Bá Đa Lộc – author of the Annam Latin Dictionary, a document that helped Taberd a lot in his self-study in Vietnam.
In particular, the 1838 Taberd map recorded about 505 place names in Latin or Vietnamese. In the middle of the map, Taberd wrote in large letters: An Nam country seu (or) Imperium Anamiticum. The whole of Vietnam at that time was divided into: Gia Dinh prefecture (later Nam Ky), Cocincina interior seu (or) An Nam Dang Trong, Cocincina exterior seu (or) Dang Ngoai or Tunquinum.
Taberd explains the citadel as a stronghold. military Defensive and not caring about the citadel also means an administrative unit consisting of many towns, such as Gia Dinh citadel or Bac citadel. The map shows: Binh Dinh citadel, Binh Hoa citadel (near Nha Trang), Gia Dinh citadel (Saigon). Taberd explains that dinh is the administrative headquarters of a town. In fact, in Dang Trong, dinh is an administrative unit later called a town and then a province. Therefore, in the map, for the towns of Dang Ngoai from Bo Chinh onwards, Taberd only records the name of the town. As for the towns of Dang Trong, he records both the name of the town and the location of the dinh. The number of towns in Taberd's map is also roughly equivalent to the number of provinces in the map. National Defense, except for Bo Chinh Ngoai land which now belongs to the province Ha Tinh, Bo Chinh Trong sent him back to the province Quang Binh and Quang Duc town was changed to Thua Thien prefecture. Vinh Thanh town was changed to two provinces. Vinh Long , and An Giang.
Regarding the supply and stations on the communication routes throughout the country and with the dependent regions, Taberd was the first to draw them on the most complete map. That was the main traffic route from Nam Quan Pass - Lang Son, that Ha Noi, Hue and to Gia Dinh citadel, also known as Saigon. There is also a secondary highway: the road to Hanoi via Hai Dong (Hai Duong), Quang Yen then circle up to Lang Son and Cao Bang; the road from Hanoi through Thai Nguyen to Cao Bang, there is another branch going from Thai Nguyen to Lang Son...
In the Central region, from the national highway in Vinh, there is a road that crosses the Truong Son mountain range, reaching Quy Hop and then dividing into two branches: one branch goes through Ky Son, and the second branch goes through Co Thai pass, Ban Don, Lao Xi Da, crosses to the right bank of the Mekong river to Lac Khon...
In the South, there is a road from Gia Dinh citadel through Lai Thieu to Ba Den mountain, which is divided into two directions: one going west to Nam Vang, and the other going north to Che Tang Lang. There is also a road from Ha Tien citadel to Nam Vang citadel. From Nam Vang, there are many roads to Com Pong Som, to Bat Tam Bang...
The continental shelf and the East Sea are the most concentrated with place names: names of estuaries, capes, lagoons, islands, and islets are very rich and accurate. Taberd recorded the historical geography of Dang Trong more thoroughly than Dang Ngoai (the number of place names is richer). Gia Dinh Prefecture, which covered the entire Southern region, was converted into Gia Dinh Town in 1802, but Taberd still recorded the old administrative form.
Regarding the map format, Taberd drew according to Western maps with correct longitude and latitude. But when recording place names, Taberd used official documents of Vietnam. He mostly transcribed from Han Nom into the Latin National Language of the maps provided by the National History Institute at that time. He also recorded place names that foreigners had given before they knew the actual names of our places.
With the archipelago in the middle of the East Sea having the administrative name Hoang Sa (Chinese), Taberd recorded the common name Cat Vang (Nom) which Westerners called Paracel. The place name Cat Vang is a Vietnamese word that only exists in ancient Dai Viet and present Vietnam, and cannot be found anywhere else.
Although there were some minor errors in the recording of place names, such as Long Xuyen Dao becoming Song Xuyen Dao, or Xuong Tinh (Nuoc Stieng) becoming Tinh Xuong, Bishop Taberd's map was truly a historical value that no contemporary map could match.to be continued).
(Excerpt) Journal of Viet History Dia by the late scholar Nguyen Dinh Dau published by Tre Publishing House)
Sources: https://thanhnien.vn/gia-tri-vo-gia-cua-ban-do-taberd-1838-185241008215439532.htm
