Tavernier's map of modern day Vietnam, engraved by (Jean Louis?) Durant, published in his 'Recueil de plusiers Relations…', and attributed to Jean-Baptiste's elder brother Daniel Tavernier, who travelled the region extensively.

Jean-Baptiste's older brother Daniel Tavernier, resided in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta), during the first half of the seventeenth century, and is known to have made some 11 to 12 voyages to Tonquin. The map shows in great detail the coast of Vietnam from Southern China to the Mekong Delta. The numerous legends on the map provide information on the hot springs of Hainan, the site of the missionary Francis Xavier's death, on the Island of Shangchuan, the border between Tonquin and Chochine, and the city of Checho, modern day Hanoi.

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) was a French Huguenot gem merchant and traveller. He spent a peripatetic youth roaming Europe, enlisting in the service of the Viceroy of Hungary, the Duke of Rethel and his father the Duke of Nevers, and the Irish mercenary Colonel Walter Butler. He began the first of his six voyages in 1631, travelling with two French companions introduced to him by Cardinal Richelieu's agent, Pere Joseph. Over the course of this and the subsequent voyages he travelled all over the Middle East and Asia, visiting the local rulers, recording local culture and customs, and trading. On one voyage, he bought the Hope Diamond, which he eventually sold to his patron, Louis XIV.

He wrote about his adventures in 'Les Six Voyages', which proved immensely popular, sharing the detailed knowledge he had of overland trading routes and foreign rulers. He received patents of nobility and married. Protestants faced increasing oppression in France and little is known of the end of Tavernier's life - he managed to sell his estate before Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes and passed a law which required Protestant nobility to convert to Catholicism. In 1687, despite an edict prohibiting Protestants from leaving France, Tavernier left Paris for Moscow, where he died two years later.

Tavernier's work was first published in Paris in 1676-1677 in two volumes. A third volume was added in 1679, edited by M. de la Chapelle.