This highly decorative map was originally published in 1596 by Jan Huygen van Linschoten in his ‘Itinerario’. Linschoten acquired most of the information for the map while serving as the secretary to the Portuguese archbishop in Goa (India) from 1583 to 1589. This map contributed to the end of the Portugese monopoly is the East Indies and opened up the route to the spice islands the Dutch. The map includes a tremendously detailed treatment of the region, displaying a marvelous blend of mythical cartographic detail and contemporary Portugese knowledge in the region. Linschoten also depicts information from the travel account of Marco Polo, including the location of the mythical land of ‘Beach provincia auriferain’ the region where Australia would eventually be discovered. On the mainland the four large lakes in the interior are based on Chinese legend. Korea is shown as a large circular island and Japan is shaped as a shrimp.

Size: 48 cm x 36 cm