Napels Capitale du Royaume de meme nome

Title

Napels Capitale du Royaume de meme nome

Description

Map shows the city of Napels from the Harbour.

ca. 1729

Artist

Aa, van der (1659-1733)

Pieter van der Aa ( 1659 - 1733) was a Dutch publisher best known for preparing maps and atlases, though he also printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated volumes. He also printed many maps that were often out of print, which he reissued. Some of his most popular maps were of the African continent, detailing locations such as Morocco and Madagascar. Many of his later works were printed for the general public in French and Dutch. Pieter van der Aa began his career at Leiden in 1683 as a Latin trade publisher, publishing classical texts pertaining to medicine and science. As he progressed, he began to publish atlases and maps, compiling numerous multi-volume collections of works. His ambition to become Leiden's most famous printer was fulfilled in 1715 with his appointment to head printer for the city and its university. One of Pieter van der Aa's largest compilations relates to the history of Italy and Sicily, an area of immense personal interest. Though he took credit for many of his compilations, several, such as the Dutch collection of travels to the East and West Indies, were admittedly simple improvements to others' works.

Historical Description

Naples. The original Greek settlement was called Neapolis ("new town"). Later it came under Roman rule. From the late Middle Ages to the 18th century, Naples was one of the largest cities in Europe. Its political history is marked by foreign domination for long periods, and it was also the capital of southern Italian empires. The history of Campania in the 4th century BC was marked by the expansion of the rising Roman Empire. Some remains of both the Greek and Roman cities still exist. But as early as 568, the Lombards began to conquer Italy, and in 581 they occupied Benevento. The remaining Eastern Roman-Byzantine territories were directed and defended from the Exarchate of Ravenna, which in turn had ducats under its authority. One of these dukates became Naples in 661. The Normans, under Rainulf Drengot, had gained their own territory for the first time since 1027 with the county of Aversa, which lay to the north of Naples. In 1047, Emperor Henry III, accompanied by Pope Clement II, had advanced south to clarify the political situation in the Lombard principalities. In 1442, Spaniards, namely the Crown of Aragon under Alfonso, defeated the last ruler of the French Angevins, destroying large parts of the city and the belt of fortresses already incorporated by suburbs. Under the Aragonese, Naples' economic links with the Iberian Peninsula were intensified, the economy as a whole was boosted and the city became a centre of the Renaissance and humanism. The rule of the Spanish Habsburgs, which lasted until 1707, was interrupted for months by revolts and the proclamation of the Republic of Naples; these events are considered part of the "Crisis of the 17th Century" A marked improvement in conditions only occurred when the Bourbons, who had acquired the Spanish throne as a result of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1712, took over Naples from the Austrians in 1734 in the War of the Polish Succession. In view of Napoleon's successes in his Italian campaign, the royal family fled to Palermo in 1798. In January 1799, French revolutionary troops under General Jean-Étienne Championnet entered Naples. With Napoleon's downfall came the end of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples, and Ferdinand returned to Naples on 17 June 1815. Ferdinand carried out a ruthless restoration policy that eliminated even the last traces of French reform efforts.