1685 Justus Danckerts Double Hemisphere Map of the World

This is an original color example of Justus Danckerts' classic c. 1685 double-hemisphere map of the world. The map combines the aesthetics of the Dutch Golden Age with updated cartography derived from the French authority Nicolas Sanson. Danckerts had, in 1680, produced a world map copied from Frederic De Wit 1668 Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula. While the present work retains many of De Wit's decorative elements, it introduces a range of geographical improvements over the original.

Dramatically Engraved

In a bold expression of the Dutch school of mapmaking, Danckerts portrays the nature of the world depicted in the map. Broadly, the vignettes in each corner of the map represent the four elements. However, the classical and pictorial elements employed in these images bring greater depth: each of the elements is invested with the meaning of its impact on man. The scene in the lower left is set amidst lush, forested hillsides and valleys abundant with grain. The mother goddess Cybele and the harvest goddess Demeter sit among fauns, cornucopias, and the fruits of a plentiful harvest. Shadowy figures at the left suggest the bloodier harvest of the hunt. These are images reflecting the element of Earth.

To the lower right, the sea god Poseidon presides over his element, Water, with his lover Venus draped decorously over his shoulder. Sea-putti and a merman attend the couple, blowing conches and adorning the goddess with strings of pearls. To the right, two nymphs wrangle a monstrous, spouting whale. In the background, warships press each other in battle.

In the upper left, still more warlike imagery attends the element of fire. The three-headed guard dog of Hades, Cerberus, growls and snaps while massed armies strive against a background of burning castles. To the right, Hades wrests a struggling Persephone, an illustration of the king of hell abducting Demeter's daughter in a triumph of violence and death over the Earth's promise. Finally, in the upper right, the element of Air is represented. Under an arching Zodiac, the celestial gods congregate: Apollo of the Sun, Diana of the Moon, Mercury, Saturn, and Mars commune amongst the clouds. They are presided over by Jupiter - unhinged, brandishing a fistful of lightning bolts - and Juno, who appears to be gently restraining her husband with her distaff. Avatars of wind and rain are pictured as well, and the skies are filled with birds in flight. The element of Air, more than all the others here, is portrayed as being beyond human command and the source of the unstoppable whims of the gods.

As noted above, these images appeared first on Frederic De Wit's 1668 map. The vignettes were composed and etched by Romeyn de Hooghe; they would later be copied by Danckerts in his earlier double-hemisphere world and are retained here.

Distinct from the De Wit original, Danckerts introduces an element of Christian imagery in the cruxes of the hemispheres. In the upper crux, a putto displays scripture in one hand and a cross in the other, basking in radiant light; in the lower crux, shrouded in dark clouds, another putto clutches an idol in its hands.

A Closer Look

While starting from the base of the 1668 De Wit, Danckerts' map incorporates elements drawn from Nicolas Sanson as interpreted by Hubert Jaillot's cartography of 1674 and, in turn, moves that geographic model forward in several areas.

The North Pacific

The De Wit and the Danckerts alike present California as an island, by that time well established geographical canon. The region to the northwest of that imaginary island differs sharply from De Wit: extending across the Pacific from Japan's Iedso is a massive Terre de la Compagnie, here named Terra Esonis. This element is derived from Jaillot's 1674 map of the world, which was, in turn, informed by Nicolas Sanson.

New Mexico

East of the sea separating California from the mainland is Mexica Nova. Here, a river (a conflation of the Rio Grande with the Colorado) runs from a lake east of the ancient settlement of Acoma toward the southwest and the Gulf of California rather than to the Gulf of Mexico. The river's source, as depicted here, may result from reports of the Great Salt Lake from the Onate and Coronado expeditions.

Canada and The Great Lakes

De Wit had already adopted the French geography of the northeastern portions of North America, which was more authoritative and accurate than that of contemporaneous Dutch mapmakers. Hudson Bay appears in recognizable form, albeit with openings to the west, suggestive of hoped-for connections with the Pacific. This mapping of the Great Lakes incorporated all five lakes, although lakes Superior and Michigan have their western reaches left unfinished, again suggesting the possibility of a navigable water route to the Pacific.

Colonial America

The Northeast is dominated by 'Canada sive Nova Francia,' and the claims of France's European rivals are only grudgingly acknowledged. Some coastal cities (including New Amsterdam, Plymouth, and New London) are named along the coast. Virginia is acknowledged mainly with the Indigenous name 'Powhatan.'

The American Southeast

In Spanish Florida, which extends north to include most of the American Southeast, Lake Apalache or the 'Great Freshwater Lake of the American Southeast' is shown but not named.

South America and El Dorado

Explorers of South America throughout the late 16th and early 17th century (enthralled by Pizarro's conquests in Peru and tales of other gold-rich empires in the interior) actively sought El Dorado, which Sir Walter Raleigh placed in the mythical city of Manoa, on the shores of the Lake Parima, near modern-day Guyana, and Danckerts includes it here. Further south, a prominent (albeit unnamed) Laguna de Xarayes forms the northern terminus of the Paraguay River. The apocryphal Laguna de Xarayes was often regarded as a southern gateway to the Amazon and the Kingdom of El Dorado.

Early South Pacific Discoveries

Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific were virtually unknown to European explorers. The depiction of these lands on all maps from the mid-17th century until Cook's voyages is based on the 1642 mapping of Abel Tasman. For over a century, only a portion of the west coasts of Australia and New Zealand and the southern reaches of Tasmania were to appear on maps. Drawing from the French, Danckerts introduced both a massive New Guinea and a mysterious 'Quiri Regio,' where De Wit exhibited greater caution. The latter landmass was reputed to have been discovered by the 16th-century Spanish navigator and religious zealot Pedro Fernandez de Quiros (1565 - 1615). Quiros set sail in search of the speculative Terre Australis and likely discovered several important South Seas islands. Nonetheless, Quiros turned back just shy of glory, electing to return to Europe shortly before sighting New Zealand. Even so, Quiros was a voracious self-promoter, and descriptions of his findings were circulated throughout Europe. Terre de Quir or Terre de Quiros appears on various maps of the region until put to rest by the 18th-century explorations of Captain Cook.

The Vacant South

On many 16th and 17th-century maps, the Southern Hemisphere was dominated by a great continent typically named 'Terre Australe Incognita,' or some variation. Despite the tenacity of geographical authorities on the matter, cartographers of the 17th and 18th centuries would gradually whittle away the coastline as one expedition after another failed to discover it. And indeed, the present map is shorn of any continent south of Tasmania or Tierra del Fuego.

The Polar Projections

In addition to the main hemispheres, the map includes two subordinate polar projections. Typically, these are seen bounded by the Arctic and Antarctic circles. Here, Danckerts has extended both the northern and southern projections to present entire hemispheres to the Equator, thus offering a different perspective on the entire globe rather than simply highlighting the polar regions.

Publication History and Census

Shirley dates the map to after 1684, based on the inclusion of Danckerts' privilege (obtained that year). The Danckerts atlas continued in publication into the beginning of the 18th century, and it is likely that this plate remained in use for its entire run. However, the atlas is not well-cataloged by institutional collections, and its census is unknown. We see ten examples of the separate map in institutional collections.