Hispalis vulgo sevilliae Urbis toto orbe Celeberrimae Primariae effigies Hispaniaeque. / Sevillia

Title

Hispalis vulgo sevilliae Urbis toto orbe Celeberrimae Primariae effigies Hispaniaeque. / Sevillia

Description

Splendid general view of Seville with two representations of coats of arms, a title loop and a city index below the view.

ca. 1649

Artist

Merian (1593-1650)

Matthäus Merian (1593 – 1650) , born in Basel, learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He married his daughter, Maria Magdalena 1617. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, only to return three years later to Frankfurt, where Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death in 1623. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He is the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who later published her the famous and wellknown studies of flowers, insects and butterflies.

Historical Description

From the beginning of the 9th century BC at the latest, the Phoenicians sailed as far as the Andalusian coast, even beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, and traded with the local population. After Phoenician activities were apparently initially limited to trade and the establishment of trading posts in indigenous coastal settlements, they founded their own settlements from the 8th century BC. At the time of Roman rule in Hispania, the Andalusians quickly learned the Latin language and got along quite well with the Roman legionaries. In late antiquity, when the Western Roman Empire was showing signs of dissolution, Vandals and other Germanic tribes invaded Hispania at the beginning of the 5th century. After the middle of the 5th century, the Visigoths conquered Hispania and established their own empire with Toledo as its capital. In the 6th century, parts of Andalusia were occupied by the Eastern Romans, who, however, had to withdraw at the beginning of the 7th century. In 711 the Moors crossed the straits and within a few years conquered most of the Visigoth Empire. Of all the Spanish regions, Andalusia was under Islamic rule the longest. It reached its zenith under the Emirate of Córdoba, the Caliphate of Córdoba, and the Nasrids in the Emirate of Granada. The influences of the Muslims can be seen above all in the architecture, including the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita of Córdoba and the Giralda in Seville. The rule of the Moors in Spain was ended by the Reconquista (1492) in Granada. Despite all the guarantees of religious freedom granted in the Treaty of Granada (1491), the forced conversion of the Mudejares by the Catholic Church and the expropriation of Muslim religious institutions soon began (formally in 1502). The city of Seville became the maritime trade center of Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries. During this period, the port of Seville held the monopoly over overseas trade. Amerigo Vespucci and Ferdinand Magellan planned and launched their voyages of discovery here.