Alcericum

Title

Alcericum

Description

Magnificent map showing Algiers as bird's-eye view and general view with title cartouche, index and two sailing ships.

ca. 1728

Artist

Seutter (1678-1757)

Matthias Seutter (1678- 1757) Augsburg was the son of a goldsmith in Augsburg. In 1697, Seutter began his studies in Nuremberg and subsequently worked in the publishing house of Jeremias Wolff in Augsburg. In 1710, he established his own publishing house and print shop. The Seutter publishing house produced a great number of maps, atlases, and globes. However, very few original maps were printed there, as Augsburg at that time had no university and no connection to the fields of mathematics or the natural sciences. Seutter therefore copied the work of other cartographers, making his own engravings based on their models. Over 500 maps were produced in his studio. Seutter's most well-known works are the 1725 "Geographical Atlas or an Accurate Depiction of the Whole World" ("Atlas Geographicus oder Accurate Vorstellung der ganzen Welt") with 46 maps, the 1734 "Large Atlas" ("Grosser Atlas") with 131 maps, and the 1744 pocket atlas "Small Atlas" ("Atlas minor") with 64 maps. Matthäus Seutter died in 1757. Seutter's son Albrecht Karl, his son-in-law Conrad Tobias Lotter, and his business partner Johann Michael Probst ran the printing business for five more years.

Historical Description

The area of today's Algeria was originally inhabited by Berber tribes, in the east of Tuareg. From the 12th century BC The Phoenicians established trading bases on the coast and founded it in 814 BC. BC the commercial city of Carthage in what is now Tunisia, which subsequently developed into a major power in the western Mediterranean. Around the middle of the 7th century, the Arabs advanced into the Maghreb. In 697 they conquered much of today's Algeria. The population was largely Islamized. In the 11th century, the Berber dynasty of the Almoravids prevailed in what is now Algeria; it ruled the country for almost 100 years until it was replaced by the Almohads in 1147. This dynasty subsequently conquered the Maghreb and southern Spain; the empire then fell apart in the second half of the 13th century. Eastern Algeria became part of a Tunisian principality. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Spaniards tried to gain a foothold on the Algerian coast. The country then submitted to the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire in 1519 and became its vassal; Algeria, the Eyâlet Cezayir was converted to a Vilâyet within the Ottoman Empire and later. It remained under Ottoman sovereignty until 1830, but was effectively independent from 1711. Until the 19th century, Algeria successfully defended itself against attempts by the Spanish, Dutch, British and French to curb piracy.