Africa

By Petrus Bertius c. 1627

This reproduction is taken from an original document, held within the Archives of the UK Hydrographic Office, Taunton, Somerset.

The Low Countries for roughly a century, from 1570 to 1670, produced in some respects the greatest map-makers of the world. The centres of production, at first in Antwerp and Duisburg, soon shifted to Amsterdam. For accuracy according to the knowledge of their time, magnificence of presentation and richness of decoration, the Dutch and Flemish maps and charts of this period have never been surpassed. Pieter Bert, better known as Petrus Bertius, was a Flemish geographer who published a great deal of work in the early to mid seventeenth century. As was common with most cartographic publishers of his day he produced work in both Latin and Dutch, but also had his maps translated into all the important European languages.

This map of Africa is very typical of the style that prevailed in the early 17th century. The representation of sailing ships, fantastic creatures and animals, are common decorative themes on maps and charts of this era.