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Description

The First Printed Sea Chart of Long Island, the coastline of Connecticut, and Long Island Sound

Nice example of the rare second state of Arent Roggeveen's map of Manhattan, Long Island Sound, the Connecticut Coastline Block Island, and the western part of Martha's Vineyard, which first appeared in Roggeveen's Brandende Veen in 1675.

Roggeveen's chart appeared in the first published sea atlas of the Americas, and the first printed sea chart to focus on the Connecticut shoreline, Long Island Sound, and Long Island.

Roggeveen was employed by both the Dutch East India Company and Dutch West India Company, which maintained large collections of the finest and most up to date charts of the regions in which the Dutch traded. Roggeveen assisted in managing these collections and also taught navigation. As a chart publisher, this gave him unparalleled access to manuscript charts by Gerritsz and Vingboons, as well as on Spanish portolan charts.

Roggeveen's chart is one of the earliest printed sea charts to focus on the area between Manhattan and the eastern tip of Long Island, Block Island and Long Island Sound, etc. "N Amsterdam or Manhattan's Eylant (Manhattan) is named, with a note showing a fortification, as is Staaten Eylant. Both the Noort Rivier (North River) and Oos Rivier (East River) are also named, as are many interesting place names.

To the east, the chart extends to "Vissher's Island" (Fishers Island), "Rood Eyland" (Rhode Island) in Narrangansett Bay, and to the western part of Martha's Vineyard "Elisabet's Eyl.", with "Hendrick Christiaen's Eyl" shown as Norman's Land Island, although in fact it was one of the earliest names for Martha's Vineyard, dating back to 1616.

Other important early place-names include Zeebroeck (Saybrook), Groeobis (Greenwich), Hamton (Hampton) Oester (Oyster Bay), Garners (Gardiner's) Eylandt, Vlissingen (Flushing), Roode Hoeck (Red Hook), Knynen Eylandt (Coney Island), and Helle gat (Hellsgate).

The town of New Amsterdam is shown on Manhattan. The chart gives soundings for the approaches to New York Harbor for ships approaching from the south as well as from the east.

All examples of Roggeveen's charts are very rare on the market.

Arent Roggeveen

Roggeveen was a land surveyor, mathematician, poet and teacher of navigation. Born in Delfshaven, he later moved to Middelburg where both the Dutch East and West India Companies were based. He was employed by both companies as a teacher in the art of navigation. One of Roggeveen's primary tasks for the two companies was maintaining the collections of hydrographic manuscripts and charts, including Spanish portolanos of the West Indies.

In the mid 1660s, Roggeveen compiled a series of large scale charts of the North American coast line, West Indies and later, West Africa. His Het Brandende Veen or The Burning Fen represented a landmark in the coastal charting of North America, with a number of regions mapped in larger scale than in any previously printed work. Roggeveen arranged for Pieter Goos, one of the leading engravers and publishers of maritime books in Amsterdam to publish the collection. The completed work was the first Dutch pilot focused on select areas of the American coastline. Previously, all printed maps and charts that dealt with this coastline were on a much larger scale.

Roggeveen died in 1679. Goos' widow sold the plates to Jacob Robijn, who reissued the maps with his name added to the title, but otherwise unchanged, in 1680. Both examples of the map are extremely rare. The atlases were undoubtedly published in limited quantity. Working sea charts and pilots from the 17th Century are inherently rare due to the nature of their use aboard ships. The vast majority of them were either destroyed by use or destroyed intentionally when new updated versions were obtained.

Arent Roggeveen Biography

Arent Roggeveen was a land surveyor, mathematician, poet and teacher of navigation. Born in Delfshaven, he later moved to Middelburg where both the Dutch East and West India Companies were based. He was employed by both companies as a teacher in the art of navigation. He also helped maintain their collections of hydrographic manuscripts and charts, including Spanish portulanos of the West Indies. In the mid-1660s, Roggeveen compiled a series of large scale charts of the North American coastline, West Indies and later, West Africa. His Het Brandende Veen or The Burning Fen represented a landmark in the coastal charting of North America, with a number of regions mapped in a larger scale than in any previously printed work. Roggeveen arranged for Pieter Goos, one of the leading engravers and publishers of maritime books in Amsterdam to publish the collection. The completed work was the first Dutch pilot that was focused on select areas of the American coastline. Previously, all printed maps and charts that dealt with this coastline were on a much larger scale.

Roggeveen died in 1679. Goos' widow sold the plates to Jacob Robijn, who reissued the maps with his name added to the title, but otherwise unchanged, in 1680. Both examples of the map are extremely rare. The atlases were undoubtedly published in limited quantities. Working sea charts and pilots from the 17th Century are inherently rare due to the nature of their use aboard ships. The vast majority of them were either destroyed by use or destroyed intentionally when new updated versions were obtained.