Novi Belgii

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20129084

This masterful and beautiful map, based on one publisher by Claus Janszoon Visscher in the mid-1650s, was a seminal moment in the cartography of New England and New York. With its inset view of New York it showed educated Europeans what New Amsterdam looked like and also provided them with a remarkably precise idea of its geographic context. Based probably on a prototype by Augustine Hermann, the map was first published by Jan Jansson in 1650, without the view. Visscher brought out his own version around 1654, which included the famous inset view of the town. Taken from Governor's Island, southeast of Manhattan, the view is a somewhat idealized but generally accurate look at New Amsterdam just 25 years or so after its initial settlement. Information about the time when various buildings were erected suggests a probable date for the inset view between autumn 1652 and summer 1653.