Renaud Marchais, known as the Chevalier des Marchais, was a French explorer and slave trader who undertook several voyages between Africa and the Americas between 1704 and 1727. This four-volume work covers his expeditions in the West Indies and along the northern coast of South America.
The volumes were edited from his manuscripts and published posthumously by the French missionary, enslaver and engineer Jean-Baptiste Labat. Labat knew the West Indies intimately, having lived in Martinique between 1694 and 1706.