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This map is a highly detailed and decorative representation of the Iberian Peninsula, covering the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal.
The map includes a large decorative cartouche, which prominently displays sixteen coats of arms, representing the various Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms and noble houses. The cartouche is richly adorned with heraldic symbolism, flags, and an imposing lion, emphasizing the sovereignty and historical unity of the Iberian Peninsula. Additionally, two other smaller cartouches embellish the composition, including one in the lower left corner depicting two figures engaged in measurement, likely symbolizing cartographic and territorial survey efforts.
The surrounding seas, labeled Oceanus Occidentalis, Mare Biscaya, and Mare Mediterraneum, frame the peninsula, while the Balearic Islands and the northern coast of Africa are included to provide geographical context.
De Wit (1629 ca.-1706) was a mapmaker and mapseller who was born in Gouda but who worked and died in Amsterdam. He moved to the city in 1648, where he opened a printing operation under the name of "de dry Crabben" (The Three Crabs); in 1655, he changed the name of his shop to "de Witte Paskaert" (The White Chart). From the 1660s onward, he published atlases with a variety of maps; he is best known for these atlases and his Dutch town maps. He gained a privilege from the States General in 1688. After Frederik’s death in 1706, his wife Maria ran the shop for four years before selling it. Their son, Franciscus, was a stockfish merchant and had no interest in the map shop. At the auction to liquidate the de Wit stock, most of the plates went to Pieter Mortier, whose firm eventually became Covens & Mortier, one of the biggest cartography houses of the eighteenth century.
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