Philipp Johann von Strahlenberg (October 6, 1677 - September 7, 1747), aka Philip Johan Tabbert, was a Swedish army officer of Germanic descent. Strahlenberg was born in the Hanseatic town Stralsund, now Pomerania, Germany, but then part of Sweden. Strahlenberg joined the Swedish army in 1694, being promoted to Captain in 1703. When he was ennobled in 1707, he took the name Strahlenberg. During the Great Northern War (1700 - 1721) between Russia and Sweden, Strahlenberg was captured and sent to Tobolsk, where he lived the commodious life of a noble prisoner of war from 1711 to 1721. During this time, he developed a fascination with the the geography of Siberia and studied the anthropology, languages, and customs of its indigenous peoples. He also worked as an assistant to the German explorer and naturalist Daniel Gottlieb Messerschmidt (1685-1735), who was then working for Peter the Great. Along with fellow Swedish prisoner, Johan Anton von Matérn, Strahlenberg dedicated himself to the composition of a large new map of Russia. Strahlenberg recommended that the Ural Mountains serve as the eastern borders of the European continent, an idea that was later approved by the Tsar. He returned to Sweden in 1722, and in 1730 he published an important book about Siberia, Das Nord- und Ostliche Theil von Europa und Asia (North and Eastern Parts of Europe and Asia), and its accompanying map. More by this mapmaker...

Ottens (fl. c. 1680 - 1785) was a prominent Amsterdam map publishing family active for nearly 100 years. Joachim Ottens (1663 - 1719) was born in Amsterdam to a family of seafarers and educated in Amsterdam's Evangelical Lutheran community. He likely learned copperplate engraving under Frederick de Wit (1629 - 1706), for whom he worked until about 1710. In 1710, he was admitted to the Sint-Lucasgilde (Guild of St. Luke) and, in 1711, Joachim founded his own firm. Although Joachim died only a few years later, in 1719, his widow continued the business, either publishing as either 'I. Ottens', 'Ottens', or 'In de Wereldcaert' [In the World Map]. In 1726, Joachim Otten's sons, Renier (1698 - 1750) and Joshua (1698 - 1750), established a partnership and generally published as 'R. and I. Ottens'. Although they ran separate shops, on Nieuwendijk and Kalverstraat, they worked jointly as a singular business until Renier's death in 1750, at which point Joshua assumed full control. After Joshua's death in 1765, his widow continued the firm with their son, Renier II, changing the imprint to 'Joshua and Reinier Ottens.' Joshua's widow, Johanna de Lindt, held an auction sale of their engraved plates in 1784. Ottens' work stands out in that all of their maps were separate issues, though often found compiled into special, made-to-order multi-volume composite Atlas factice works, such as the Atlas. Some examples of the Atlas include over 800 separately issued maps. Because they were not uniformly issued in standard atlases, Ottens maps are often of the utmost rarity and are notable for their exceptionally rich engraving. Learn More...