1675 Blaeu Map of Morocco, Africa

FezzaeMarocchi-blaeu-1675
$450.00
Fezzae et Marocchi Regna Africae Celeberrima.
Fezzae et Marocchi Regna Africae Celeberrima.
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1675 Blaeu Map of Morocco, Africa

FezzaeMarocchi-blaeu-1675

17th century map of Morocco on the Barbary Coast of Africa.

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Title

Fezzae et Marocchi Regna Africae Celeberrima.
  1675 (undated)    15.5 x 20.5 in (39.37 x 52.07 cm)     1 : 1500000

Description

This is a beautiful 1675 map of Morocco on the Barbary Coast of northern Africa by Blaeu. Oriented with north on the right, the map covers Morocco and the Kingdom of Fez from the Atlas Mountains north to the coast of Spain. The Strait of Gibraltar is also included. The map renders the entire region in extraordinary detail offering both topographical and political information with mountains and forests beautifully rendered in profile. The fortified towns of Marrakesh (Marruecos), Fez and Taradande are also identified. The map is based on the 1570 map by Abraham Ortelius, who is credited here in the title.

While most of the Barbary coast fell under the Ottoman rule during this period, portions of this region were under the influence of the Spanish from 1580 to 1640, with Tangiere briefly under British rule between 1662 and 1684. In spite of being a hotbed of piracy, this region managed to trade sugar, tobacco, gold and fine leather with France and England.

A highly elaborate title cartouche adorns the lower left quadrant of the map. Beautifully illustrated ships are seen sailing in the North Atlantic Ocean. This map is based on the 1570 map by Ortelius and issued by Blaeu in 1675.

CartographerS

The Amsterdam based Blaeu clan represents the single most important family in the history of cartography. The firm was founded in 1596 by Willem Janzoon Blaeu (1571-1638). It was in this initial period, from 1596 to 1672, under the leadership of the Willem Blaeu and with this assistance of his two talented sons Cornelius (1616-1648) and Johannis (1596-1673), that the firm was most active. Their greatest cartographic achievement was the publication of the magnificent multi-volume Atlas Major. To this day, the Atlas Major represents one of the finest moments in cartography. The vast scope, staggering attention to detail, historical importance, and unparalleled beauty of this great work redefined the field of cartography in ways that have endured well into to the modern era. The cartographic works of the Blaeu firm are the crowning glory of the Dutch Golden Age of Cartography. The firm shut down in 1672 when their offices were destroyed during the Great Amsterdam Fire. The fire also destroyed all of Blaeu's original printing plates and records, an incomparable loss to the history of cartography.


Abraham Ortelius (1527 - 1598) was one of the most important figures in the history of cartography and is most famously credited with the compilation of the seminal 1570 atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, generally considered to be the world's first modern atlas. Ortelius was born in Antwerp and began his cartographic career in 1547 as a typesetter for the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke. In this role Ortelius traveled extensively through Europe where he came into contact with Mercator, under whose influence, he marketed himself as a "scientific geographer". In this course of his long career he published numerous important maps as well as issued several updated editions of his cardinal work, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Late in his career Ortelius was appointed Royal Cartographer to King Phillip II of Spain. On his death in July fourth, 1598, Ortelius' body was buried in St Michael's Præmonstratensian Abbey , Antwerp, where his tombstone reads, Quietis cultor sine lite, uxore, prole.

Source

Blaeu, G., Atlas Major, 1675.     The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive, Atlas Novus, also published as the Atlas Major was first issued by Willem Jansz Blaeu and his son Joan Blaeu in 1635. The first edition contained about 207 seminal maps that ushered in a new golden age of Dutch cartography and established the distinctive flourishing highly decorative baroque Blaeu style. Most of the maps in this edition were closely based upon the earlier well established work of Jodocus Hondius, whose' map plates he had earlier acquired. The map continued to be published and republished in expanded and revised editions, reflecting the most up to date cartographic conventions and data derived from Dutch navigators and merchants then plying their trade throughout the world. Willem Blaeu died in 1638 and his son, Joan, took over subsequent publications of the atlas. The final edition of the atlas, published from 1662 to 1672, consisted some 594 maps compiled into upwards of 9 volumes with some editions containing as many as 12 volumes. In 1672 a tragic fire destroyed the sprawling Blaeu workshop, then the largest cartographic publishing house in the world. Countless map plates were lost and the following the fire the Blaeu firm ceased production.

Condition

Very good. Minor wear and verso reinforcement along original centerfold and edges. Some foxing and creasing at places.

References

Van der Krogt, P. C. J., Koeman's Atlantes Neerlandici, [8615:1B], 1.406.