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Description

A striking large format map of America, published in Leiden by Pierre Vander Aa.

The map is an intriguing blend of exquisite artistry and decidedly anachronistic geography.  One of the most striking features of this map is the portrayal of California as an island. A similar divergence from contemporary geographic knowledge is seen in the map's projection of the Mississippi River, which is shifted far westward, showing the river's mouth near the Rio Grande. This, despite the fact that the lower Mississippi had been reasonably well charted by this time. The map's depiction of a possible Northwest Passage, the legendary sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is another point of significant interest. 

The representation of South America is also remarkably wide, a significant departure from the standard cartographic projections of the period. As noted by the historian Carl Wheat, this map, despite being the work of a renowned mapmaker, is a distinct 'throwback,' seemingly clinging to archaic geographical notions.

The cartouche offers an imaginative portrayal of the New World and its inhabitants as perceived by Europeans. It depicts a small village scene where Native Americans are seen practicing archery and, disturbingly, cannibalism. A distinctly European head, pierced by an arrow, rests at the base of the scene, a stark visual representation of European fears. A large iguana, exquisitely drawn, slithers in the foreground, providing a touch of exoticism to the composition. In the backdrop, commemorative plates honoring Columbus and Vespucci add a historic element to the scene.

The map is interspersed with various annotations in Latin, detailing settlements, rivers, and various geomorphological features, thereby adding a layer of scholarly interest. The overall effect is a beautifully drawn, albeit anachronistic, portrayal of the Americas, which serves as a testament to the map-making art of the period and a window into the European perception of the New World.

The map's depiction of a possible Northwest Passage, the legendary sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is another point of significant interest. 

The map includes a number of notes in Latin, including:

  •  Hic funt Recollecti in has regiones missi qui ulterius pervenerunt"  (Here are the Recollects sent to these regions who went further." The term "Recollects" refers to a branch of the Franciscan order, hinting at the role of religious missions in exploration and colonization during this period).
  • "Nondum perfectam habemus notitiam mirabilium illorum lacuum quorum aqua dulcis est. Hic est tantum idea generalis illius quam speramus aliquando distinctam habere"  (We do not yet have perfect knowledge of those wonderful lakes whose water is fresh. This is only a general idea of it, which we hope to have more distinctly someday).
  • "Inventa Anno 1590 ab Antonio Zen"  (Discovered in the year 1590 by Antonio Zeno).
  • Novam Franciam invenerunt Galli Anno 504 usque ad annum 134 Ducentibus, Thoma Aubert, Joanne verazzan, et Jacobo Quartier Regnantibus Ludovico 12 et Francisco 1" (The French discovered New France from the year 1504 to the year 1534, led by Thomas Aubert, Giovanni da Verrazzano, and Jacques Cartier, during the reigns of Louis XII and Francis I.).
  • "Ha Cruces viam denotant per quam Galli a Monreal ad sinum udfonium fecundum litus hujus Fluvi terra peven erunt, cum habitationes Anglorum quae su per istum sinum sitae armis quæsiverunt"  (These crosses indicate the way by which the French from Montreal arrived by land on the coast of this River to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, when they sought the settlements of the English located over this gulf by arms). 

California as an island

The popular misconception of California as an island can be found on European maps from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. From its first portrayal on a printed map by Diego Gutiérrez, in 1562, California was shown as part of North America by mapmakers, including Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius. In the 1620s, however, it began to appear as an island in several sources. While most of these show the equivalent of the modern state of California separated from the continent, others, like a manuscript chart by Joao Teixeira Albernaz I (ca. 1632) now in the collection of the National Library of Brasil shows the entire western half of North America as an island. 

The myth of California as an island was most likely the result of the travel account of Sebastian Vizcaino, who had been sent north up the shore of California in 1602. A Carmelite friar, Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, accompanied him. Ascension described the land as an island and around 1620 sketched maps to that effect. Normally, this information would have been reviewed and locked in the Spanish repository, the Casa de la Contratación. However, the manuscript maps were intercepted in the Atlantic by the Dutch, who took them to Amsterdam where they began to circulate. Ascensión also published descriptions of the insular geography in Juan Torquemada’s Monarquia Indiana (1613) (with the island details curtailed somewhat) and in his own Relación breve of ca. 1620.

The first known maps to show California as an island were on the title pages of Antonio de Herrera’s Descripción de las Indias Occidentales (1622) and Jacob le Maire's Spieghel Der Australische Navigatie (1622). Two early examples of larger maps are those by Abraham Goos (1624) and another by Henry Briggs, which was included in Samuel Purchas’ Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes (1625). In addition to Briggs and Goos, prominent practitioners like Jan Jansson and Nicolas Sanson adopted the new island and the practice became commonplace. John Speed’s map (1626-7), based on Briggs’ work, is well known for being one of the first to depict an insular California.

The island of California became a fixture on mid- and late-seventeenth century maps. The island suggested possible links to the Northwest Passage, with rivers in the North American interior supposedly connecting to the sea between California and the mainland. Furthermore, Francis Drake had landed in northern California on his circumnavigation (1577-80) and an insular California suggested that Spanish power in the area could be questioned.

Not everyone was convinced, however. Father Eusebio Kino, after extensive travels in what is now California, Arizona, and northern Mexico concluded that the island was actually a peninsula and published a map refuting the claim (Paris, 1705). Another skeptic was Guillaume De L’Isle. In 1700, De L’Isle discussed “whether California is an Island or a part of the continent” with J. D. Cassini; the letter was published in 1715. After reviewing all the literature available to him in Paris, De L’Isle concluded that the evidence supporting an insular California was not trustworthy. He also cited more recent explorations by the Jesuits (including Kino) that disproved the island theory. Later, in his map of 1722 (Carte d’Amerique dressee pour l’usage du Roy), De L’Isle would abandon the island theory entirely.

Despite Kino’s and De L’Isle’s work, California as an island remained common on maps until the mid-eighteenth century. De L’Isle’s son-in-law, Philippe Buache, for example, remained an adherent of the island depiction for some time. Another believer was Herman Moll, who reported that California was unequivocally an island, for he had had sailors in his offices that claimed to have circumnavigated it. In the face of such skepticism, the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, had to issue a decree in 1747 proclaiming California to be a peninsula connected to North America; the geographic chimera, no matter how appealing, was not to be suffered any longer, although a few final maps were printed with the lingering island.

Reference
Wheat Mapping the Transmississippi West, 95
Leighly 124 & 140
Pieter van der Aa Biography

Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733) was a Dutch mapmaker and publisher who printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated books, but is best known for his voluminous output of maps and atlases. Van der Aa was born to a German stonecutter from Holstein. Interestingly, all three van der Aa sons came to be involved in the printing business. Hildebrand was a copper engraver and Boudewyn was a printer.