|
||
|
|
|
|
Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo and Java
Nice example of the lower sheet of Pierre Mortier's 2-sheet map, extending from Singapore to Java and Sumatra in the South.
One of the more fascinating notes shows a discovery attributed to "Pierre Bertollo" in 1633 near Singapore, referred to as the "Canal de Consicao de N(uestra) S(enhora)." This note references the Portuguese captain Pedro Bertollo's "discovery" of a new passage from south of Bintan and Galang and west of the Karimun Islands, which extended through the heart of the Riau Archipelago in 1633, corresponding with the first year that the Straits of Singapore and Malacca were blockaded by the Dutch East India Company.
Pierre, or Pieter, Mortier (1661-1711) was a Dutch engraver, son of a French refugee. He was born in Leiden. In 1690 he was granted a privilege to publish French maps in Dutch lands. In 1693 he released the first and accompanying volume of the Neptune Francois. The third followed in 1700. His son, Cornelis (1699-1783), would partner with Johannes Covens I, creating one of the most important map publishing companies of the eighteenth century.
![[Straits of Malacca, Sumatra, Java and Western Borneo]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/51765.jpg)
