1682 Visscher Map of Northern Spain and the Basque Region

This is a beautiful example of Nicolaes Visscher II's 1682 map of northern Spain and Portugal. The map covers the main pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela from the Pyrenees to Galicia.

A Closer Look

Coverage extends from the mouth of the Mondego River in the south to the Spanish coast on the Bay of Biscay; and from the Iberian Atlantic coast in the west to the Aragon region, and the city of Zaragosa. It includes rich detail of the Basque regions of Biscay and Navarre. Mountains are depicted pictorially, and provinces are distinguished with original outline and wash color. In addition to Zaragosa, many other cities of such as Pamplona, Madrid, and Salamanca are shown.

Curious Underlined Cities

Selected cities have been underlined in red, mainly within the provinces of Biscaia and Navarre. In Castile, the city of Burgos is thus highlighted; the significance of these cities is admittedly lost: if pilgrimage spots, why is Santiago de Compostela not also underlined? Many of these sites, but not all, were the site of battles in the 1813 Peninsular War - terribly late for this work to have retained relevance, but for the purposes of recording key battles it may have been sufficient.

Publication History and Census

This map - two printed sheets, joined - was intended as part of a six-sheet map of the Iberian Peninsula, and first printed in 1682. Visscher does not appear to have had these as part of a regular atlas, but they do occasionally appear in composite atlases of the latter 17th century and early 18th century, such as that of Danckerts. We see 16 examples catalogued in institutional collections.