"from the most correct charts that the Portuguese pilots make use of" (Linschoten)
Exacta & Accurata Delineatio cum Orarum Maritimarum tum etjam locorum terrestrium quae in Regionibus China, Cauchinchina, Camboja sive Champa, Syao, Malacca, Arracan & Pegu.
- Author: LINSCHOTEN, Jan Huyghen; and Arnold and Henrik Floris van LANGREN
- Publication place: Amsterdam,
- Publisher: Cornelis Claesz.,
- Publication date: 1595 [but 1596].
- Physical description: Engraved map with fine original hand-colour.
- Dimensions: 520 by 381mm (20.5 by 15 inches).
- Inventory reference: 21040
Notes
A map of the East Indies and the southern Pacific, showing China, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Borneo, Korea (as an island), Japan, Java, and Beach, oriented to the west. First published in Jan Huygen van Linschoten's (1563– 1611) 'Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert van J.H. van Linschoten', published by Cornelis Claesz in 1596. The coastal and navigational details are taken from the Portuguese portolans copied by Linschoten. It is exceptionally detailed; the first published map of the area to be prepared primarily from Portuguese sources, but also drawing on Petrus Plancius.
The map's "representation of Japan and Southeast Asia, except for the Philippines, was based on the work of the Portuguese cartographer Fernao Vaz Dourado, while the depiction of China is taken from Barbuda. The Philippines appears to be a variant of the Lasso model, and is most obviously characterized by its perculiar east-west orientation for Palawin… Linschoten labels the island of Seram as "Os Papuas". Reinforcing Plancius's confusion of Seram with the newly-emerging land of New Guinea. His depiction of New Guinea, however, proved influential at a later date; Thomas Forrest, who explored New Guinea in the service of the East India Company in 1774-76, cited the Linschoten map as proof that the islands of New Britain discovered by William Dampier were one and the same archipelago as the Solomon Islands. He reproduced the New Guinea section from the Linschoten map and compared with that of Dampier: "It is to be regretted, that Dampier, who sailed to New Britain in the Roebuck 1699, had not seen Linschoten's map. Such a guide might have induced him to put into harbours which he did not visit, not knowing they existed: for the least additional light to a discoverer may be productive of important consequences" (Suarez).
The map also records information from the travel accounts of Marco Polo, including the "beach provincia auriferain", at roughly where the northwest coast of Australia would eventually be discovered.
From the first book of Jan Huygen van Linschoten's 'Itinerario', the first printed work to include precise sailing instructions for the East Indies. It allowed Dutch merchants to circumvent the Portuguese stranglehold on trade to the East. It was of such economic utility that "it was given to each ship sailing from Holland to India" and soon became "the navigator's vade mecum for the Eastern seas" (Penrose).
The map's "representation of Japan and Southeast Asia, except for the Philippines, was based on the work of the Portuguese cartographer Fernao Vaz Dourado, while the depiction of China is taken from Barbuda. The Philippines appears to be a variant of the Lasso model, and is most obviously characterized by its perculiar east-west orientation for Palawin… Linschoten labels the island of Seram as "Os Papuas". Reinforcing Plancius's confusion of Seram with the newly-emerging land of New Guinea. His depiction of New Guinea, however, proved influential at a later date; Thomas Forrest, who explored New Guinea in the service of the East India Company in 1774-76, cited the Linschoten map as proof that the islands of New Britain discovered by William Dampier were one and the same archipelago as the Solomon Islands. He reproduced the New Guinea section from the Linschoten map and compared with that of Dampier: "It is to be regretted, that Dampier, who sailed to New Britain in the Roebuck 1699, had not seen Linschoten's map. Such a guide might have induced him to put into harbours which he did not visit, not knowing they existed: for the least additional light to a discoverer may be productive of important consequences" (Suarez).
The map also records information from the travel accounts of Marco Polo, including the "beach provincia auriferain", at roughly where the northwest coast of Australia would eventually be discovered.
From the first book of Jan Huygen van Linschoten's 'Itinerario', the first printed work to include precise sailing instructions for the East Indies. It allowed Dutch merchants to circumvent the Portuguese stranglehold on trade to the East. It was of such economic utility that "it was given to each ship sailing from Holland to India" and soon became "the navigator's vade mecum for the Eastern seas" (Penrose).
Bibliography
- Suarez, 'Early Mapping of Southeast Asia', 1999, page 178.
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