1616 Sumatra Insula
DESCRIPTION
This small-format map of Sumatra, Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the eastern Indian Ocean was published by Petrus Bertius in 1616 as part of his miniature atlas Tabularum Geographicarum Contractarum.
Oriented with the west at the top, the map stands as one of the earliest maps to focus on the Straits of Malacca and include present-day Singapore noted here as Sinca:pura. The map was derived from Abraham Ortelius's influential geography of Southeast Asia into a concise and highly portable form intended for broader circulation. Despite its scale, it retains dense coastal detail and clear labeling of the principal islands and sea routes.
At the time of publication, Sumatra lay at the heart of European commercial ambition in the spice-producing islands of the East Indies. With the publication of Linschoten’s Itinerario at the end of the sixteenth century, previously secret Portuguese geographic knowledge of the region became public, and the Dutch were among the first to seize this opportunity with the formation of the VOC, the Dutch East India Company, in 1602.
CONDITION
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