“Nova Belgica et Anglia Nova.” Willem Janszoom Blaeu. Based on Adrian
Block’s 1614 map and published in Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1635.
The primary source for this work was a map produced by Adrian Block in 1614. Working for fellow fur traders within the Dutch West India Company, Block explored and mapped the coast between Cape Cod and Manhattan. His was the first map to show Manhattan as an island and to label “Manhates” and Niev Nederlandt.” By naming Adrian Block Island, off the coast of Rhode Island, he insured continuing fame. Block used de Laet’s 1630 work and Samuel de Champlain’s 1612 map. Block placed north to the right as was the case with John White and John Smith’s maps. <br /><br />Willem Janzsoon Blaeu, a Dutch cartographer, took Block’s work, expanded it, and produced one of the most beautiful maps of the period. Animals such as beavers, polecats, and otters appear here for the first time on a European publication. A Mohawk village based on John White’s drawings published by de Bry views for attention with sailing ships and Indian canoes. <br /><br />Blaeu, who was educated by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, began a cartographic tradition that established his family for generations as the leading map, globe, and atlas publisher during the golden are of Dutch map making.
1635
New England, by Captain John Smith. 1616. From T<em>he Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles</em>, 1624.
The bold and arrogant John Smith, who emblazoned his portrait on his map, had no intention of retiring from his life of adventure after leaving Jamestown. He envisioned creating his own colony to the north of Virginia, a more realistic, better organized settlement with him in charge. <br /><br />In 1614 he explored and surveyed the coast of Maine and Massachusetts Bay and in 1616 published this map, the first to use the name New England. He replaced many of the indigenous names with English ones, but his only surviving place names are Cape Ann, Charles River, and Plymouth. Storms, shipwrecks, pirates, and capture by the French ended his later attempts to settle there, and his map remains as the most positive result of this venture. Thwarted as a colonizer, in part because of his boldness, he settled for writing books about his adventures and the New World.
John Smith
1624