First printed for publication in Goos's maritime atlas 'De Zee-Atlas Ofte Water-World Water' (1666), arguably the most aesthetically pleasing of the early Dutch sea atlases, with charts based on Hendrick Doncker's 'Zee-Atlas' of 1659: the "beautiful sea-atlas reflect[s] a high professional standard. The many editions published over twenty-five years are an indication of the customers' appreciation" (Koeman).

The double hemisphere world map appears with two smaller polar views in each of the lower corners, although the southern polar view is completely empty, and neither Antarctica nor the mythical Terra Australis, appear. Instead, on the main map, Australia (marked "Nova Hollandia") is shown with reasonable accuracy, and the coastline of Tasmania is drawn after Abel Tasman's accounts. The northwestern coast of North America is similarly unfinished, and California appears as an island.

The decorations are spectacular by any standard, for an atlas, and particularly Dutch in theme. The personified seasons sit along the bottom edge of the elaborate border: Spring is being offered a pot containing tulips, even though the tulip bubble of 1637 had burst; and Winter smokes a pipe, while Breughel-esque characters skate about on the ice in the background. The title also appears in Dutch.

The skies about the sun-burst are filled with birds. The more obvious representation includes a goose, as a pun on Goos's name; eagles, owls and doves to represent Jupiter, Minerva and Venus; but also, and most interestingly, a Bird of Paradise, with a long multi-coloured tail and no legs. Birds of paradise were so named, because when they were sent back to the Netherlands as exotic specimens from Dutch colonies abroad, their legs were cut off in order to make them easier to transport. This resulted in the popular myth that as they must spend their whole lives on the wing, they must live close to heaven.

As Shirley notes, there were approximately twenty editions of Goos's 'Zee-Atlas' published before his death in 1675, each including an example of this map. After his death, his widow issued a further example of the atlas in 1676, but with a world map by Clement De Jonghe (Shirley 433) instead.

Pieter Goos (1616-1675) was one of the most important of the booksellers in Amsterdam during the second half of the seventeenth-century. His first pilot book was the 'Zee-Spiegel' (1650), with charts of mostly European waters. The 'Zee Atlas' included charts of the whole world.

Goos's highly decorative atlases and pilots were ideally designed for the armchair traveler, rather than as navigational aids: in his own words, Goos's prospective clients were ""Heeren en Kooplieden"" (gentleman and merchants) before ""Schippers en Stuurlieden"" (pilots and seamen), which proved to be a very successful marketing ploy over the many decades that the atlas was in print.