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Mappa Æstivarum Insularum, alias Barmudas dictarum: Blaeu 1630 [1643]

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  • Title: Mappa Æstivarum Insularum, alias Barmudas dictarum
  • Author: Willem Janszoon Blaeu
  • Date: 1630 [1643]
  • Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
  • Condition: Excellent - foxing
  • Inches: 15 2/3" x 20 3/5 [Image]
  • Centimeters: 40 x 52.3 [Image]
  • Product ID: 001982

Mappa Æstivarum Insularum, alias Barmudas dictarum, ad Ostia Mexicani æstuarÿ jacentium in latitudine Graduum 32 Minutorum 25. Ab Anglia, Londino Scilicet versus Libonotum 3300 Miliaribus Anglicanis, et a Roanoack (qui locus est in Virginia) versus Euronotum 500 Mill. accurate descripta.

Map of the Bermudas, or Summer Islands, by Willem Blaeu, who based this work on John Speed's remarkably accurate map of 1626-1627. It shows the island divided into Tribes, and below the map itself appear the names of the first proprietors and the number of Shares assigned to each. A splendid cartouche shows Neptune astride the Royal Arms holding a ship. The larger map of the island is superimposed over a map of the Atlantic with the coastlines of Britain, North America, and Hispaniola to show the relative size and location of Bermuda, which is rendered in miniature beneath the cartouche. The map also contains scale cartouches, coats of arms, and a compass rose with a fleur-de-lis.

In 1609, the English vessel Sea Venture under Sir George Somers wrecked off Bermuda, an event thought to have inspired William Shakespeare's The Tempest (written 1610-11). The surviving Englishmen divided the island into Tribes (later Parishes) and Shares, which are individually listed with their owners along the lower register of the map. Shortly afterward, the Bermudas were granted to the Virginia Company, hence the various references to the Company on the map including the distance to the Roanoke Colony in Virginia.