1662 Jansson/ Blanckaert Map of Africa during the Reign of Hadrian

This is Nicolaas Blanckaert's historical map of Africa, drawn for the final volume of Jansson's Atlas Novus, which was dedicated to maps illustrating ancient and Biblical history. Blanckaert was a deeply respected historian and philologist, and his contribution to the atlas would have granted it great authority; this consisted of a trio of maps of Roman-era Europe, Asia and the present Africa map.

A Closer Look

The map presents the continent of Africa from approximately 18° South to 40° North: that is, from about the latitude of modern-day Zimbabwe, to the Mediterranean Sea. In its embrace of Africa from the Cape Verde islands to Socotra, it also includes most of the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent. The map's topology is consistent with Mercator's world map of 1569, particular in its presentation of rivers. Its presentation of mountains is novel, and more sparing. The map's toponymy is ancient, at least in part drawn from Ptolemy, but the ancient place names are arranged according to more contemporary geographical ideas. The cartographer's goal appears to have been to make the reports of the ancients consistent with modern exploration. Blanckaert certainly in some places draws on earlier sources still. For example, in the region of Libya the description of the kingdom of Cinyps as 'the sweetest and most fertile land in all of Africa' is a direct quote from the 5th century BCE historian Herodotus.

An Elegant Engraving

The maps produced by Jansson in the latter part of the 17th century were the aesthetic match of those of his competitor, Blaeu. Mountains are shown in profile pictorially, and the map's lettering is clear and legible. A shell-motif cartouche appears in the lower right; the dedicatory cartouche to Dutch scholar and statesman Johan de Brune (1588 - 1658) is surmounted by a beautiful coat of arms. To the lower left are the versi of eight ancient coins from the reign of Emperor Hadrian. These had been minted in Rome, in commemoration of Hadrian's tour of the Empire. The 'heads' of these coins depicted the Emperor in profile; the versi or 'tails' faces contained allegorical figures and the names of the Imperial provinces for which the coins were dedicated (Alexandria, for example, or the Nile, or Egypt, or Mauretania.) The coins may have actually been distributed by the Emperor in the areas to which they were dedicated. Blanckaert had published important translations of early histories of Rome, and the coins surviving from Hadrian's reign represented important corroborations for his historians' often questionable reports.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved for inclusion in the 1662 edition of Jansson's Atlas Novus; it is consequently one of the scarcest of the Jansson atlas maps, having been included in only a handful of printings of Jansson's work. The present example, with no verso text, corresponds to the printing of the map for inclusion in the 1700 edition of Hornius' Description of the Earth, or Ancient Geography, both Sacred and Profane. Nine examples of the separate map are listed in OCLC; one example from a 1702 French edition of the work is so listed. The map is scarce on the market.