India quae Orientalis dicitur et Insulae Adiacentes

Gorgeous map of southeast Asia from the Dutch Golden Age.

Ever since the United Provinces revolted against Spanish rule in 1588, the Dutch Republic was able to punch well above its weight class in regards to its impact on European geopolitics. One mechanism through which that power was leveraged was the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its monopoly on the spice trade, granted in 1602. The trading empire was based in Batavia (est. 1611), on the island of Java, and the wealth accumulated through regional (especially with the Mughal Empire India) and transcontinental shipping was immense. Growth, and profits, would continue relatively unabated through the majority of the 17th century.

Maps were necessarily an important tool to facilitate such expansion, and the Dutch were leaders in that industry as well. This is an excellent example, issued by the (former) hydrographer of the VOC, Willem Janszoon Blaeu, in 1635. It’s based on an earlier chart created by Blaeu’s predecessor in the role, Hessel Gerritsz, and provides some of the most up to date geographic information then available. Several areas in particular are worth mentioning.

Looking at the top of the sheet, an oddly oriented Japan is labeled across from an insular Korea. Nagasaki is labeled immediately south, on Cikko (Kyushu) Island. This area was of particular importance, as it was here that the Dutch maintained exclusive European trading rights with the Japanese after the expulsion of the Portuguese in 1639. Formosa (Taiwan) and the Islas de Ladrones (Marianas) are exaggerated in size, along with other islands throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans; notably Ceylon and the Maldives.

Incomplete coastlines along the bottom of the image reflect early Dutch explorations of Australia and New Guinea, though both would have been better understood by the time of the map’s publication. Far south is one of the earliest iterations of western Australia, known as Eendracht after the ship that landed there in 1616. Nearby can be seen G.F. de Wits Landt, named after an unfortunate captain who ran aground in 1627. To the northeast is an early outline of the northern peninsula of Queensland and Papua New Guinea (Terra d’os Papous, named by Jacob Le Maire, a passenger on the aforementioned Eendracht).

Immediately east are the fabled Spice Islands, where pepper, nutmeg, mace, and cloves were collected in vast quantities for export via the Sunda Strait (hence Batavia’s strategic location). After factoring in textiles from India, tea and porcelain from China, cinnamon from Ceylon, coffee from Sumatra, and sugarcane from Formosa, it becomes easier to understand how the map captures the essence of a vast global trading empire.

Decorative elements throughout the image reinforce this theme. At the top, native figures flank the title cartouche wearing elegant, though relatively unsophisticated costumes. Juxtaposed with the two (probably allegorical) figures and grand heraldry visible in the lower left, its difficult not to discern at least some suggestion of western cultural superiority. Between the two warriors is an elaborate dedication to Laurens Reael, former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. A variety of putti along the bottom of the page are shown carrying a drum and scientific devices like a cross-staff, compass, and astrolabe.

References: Moreland & Bannister, 274; Van der Krogt 8400:2.