Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula, 1660

Striking example of Frederick De Wit's first map of the World, which was engraved for Hendrik Doncker's De Zee-Atlas ofte Water-Wereld. For his first World map, De Wit draws on the cartographic features of Johannes Blaeu's Wall map of 1648. This is one of the very few maps to which De Wit adds a date. California is shown as an island, with no information given in the Northwest Part of America and no signs of the Great Lakes. South America is oversized and wide. Only a single coastline is shown for New Zealand, while the discoveries of Tasman and others are reflected in the depiction of Australia. Korea is correctly shown as a peninsula, although Borneo and the Philippines are curiously configured. The space between the hemispheres is richly adorned with celestial spheres, north and south polar projections, and astronomical diagrams. Representations of the four elements (air, water, fire and land are shown, with the remaining areas embellished with garlands of fruits and flowers. The map is dated in the lower neatlines, to the right of the centerfold. This is the rarest of De Wit's maps and possibly the most decorative

Date

1660

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

map

Original size

13,818 × 11,243 pixels

Need maps for a whole project? Add Find Any Map to Claude and ask for this one by its id: 21498.