Mappa Aestivarum Insularum, alias Barmudas dictarum, ad Ostia…

Title

Mappa Aestivarum Insularum, alias Barmudas dictarum, ad Ostia…

Description

Decorative map of Bermudas with the islands Grand Bermuda, Somerset Island, Saint George's, index and 4 decorative cartouches.

ca. 1647

Artist

Hondius (1597-1650)

Jodocus Hondius (1563 –1612) was a Dutch engraver, and cartographer. He is best known for his early maps of the New World and Europe, for re-establishing the reputation of the work of Gerard Mercator, and for his portraits of Francis Drake. He helped establish Amsterdam as the center of cartography in Europe in the 17th century. He was born in Wakken and grew up in Ghent. In his early years he established himself as an engraver, instrument maker and globe maker. In 1584 he moved to London to escape religious difficulties in Flanders. While in England, Hondius was instrumental in publicizing the work of Francis Drake, who had made a circumnavigation of the world in the late 1570s. In particular, in 1589 Hondius produced a now famous map of the bay of New Albion, where Drake briefly established a settlement on the west coast of North America. Hondius' map was based on journal and eyewitness accounts of the trip and has long fueled speculation about the precise location of Drake's landing, which has not yet been firmly established by historians. Hondius is also thought to be the artist of several well-known portraits of Drake that are now in the National Portrait Gallery in London. In 1593 he moved to Amsterdam, where he remained until the end of his life. In co-operation with the Amsterdam publisher Cornelis Claesz. in 1604 he purchased the plates of Gerard Mercator's Atlas from Mercator's grandson. Mercator's work had languished in comparison to the rival Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius. Hondius republished Mercator's work with 36 additional maps, including several which he himself had produced. Despite the addition of his own contributions, Hondius gave Mercator full credit as the author of the work, listing himself as the publisher. Hondius' new edition of Mercator's work was a great success, selling out after a year. Hondius later published a second edition, as well as a pocket version Atlas Minor. The maps have since become known as the ""Mercator/Hondius series"" . In the French edition of the Atlas Minor we find one of the first instances of a thematic map using map symbols. This is a map entitled Designatio orbis christiani (1607) showing the dispersion of major religions. Between 1605 and 1610 he was employed by John Speed to engrave the plates for Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. Hondius died, aged 48, in Amsterdam. After his death, his publishing work in Amsterdam was continued by his widow, two sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and son-in-law Johannes Janssonius, whose name appears on the Atlas as co-publisher after 1633. Eventually, starting with the first 1606 edition in Latin, about 50 editions of the Atlas were released in the main European languages. In the Islamic world, the atlas was partially translated by the Turkish scholar Katip Çelebi. The series is sometimes called the ""Mercator/Hondius/Janssonius"" series because of Janssonius's later contributions.

Historical Description

Bermuda was discovered in 1503 by the Spaniard Juan de Bermúdez, who did not go ashore due to the dangerous reefs that surround the island. In 1511, Petrus Martyr of Anghiera published one of the first maps on which the archipelago is drawn. It then bears the name la bermuda. In the same year, Spanish maps with Bermuda appeared. Spanish and Portuguese ships called Bermuda to deliver fresh water and meat. The fear of ghosts and the difficult sea conditions initially prevented Europeans from establishing settlements here. The first settlers were involuntarily English colonists on the way to Virginia. In a heavy storm, her ship Sea Venture climbed onto a Bermuda reef in 1609 and had to flee ashore. The group, led by Sir George Somers, spent ten months there. From the rubble of the Sea Venture and from wood found on site, they built two smaller ships with which they continued their journey to Virginia. Her reports about the island attracted great attention in England, so that Jacob I transferred the powers over the islands to the Bermuda Company in 1615. So Bermuda was claimed for the English Crown, and the charter of the Virginia Company was later extended to include them. In 1610, all but two of the remaining survivors of Sea Venture sailed on to Jamestown, among them was John Rolfe, one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and was the married with Pocahontas. Saint George’s was founded in 1612 by about 60 British colonists. A deputy government was established in 1620, after which Bermuda became an independent colony. The Anglo-American name Somers Isles for Bermuda comes from this period. Because of the remoteness of the islands, their economy initially concentrated on trading in salt and on the wood of Bermuda juniper, which is well suited for shipbuilding. The centrally located port city of Hamilton, founded in 1790, became the capital in 1815.