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MAP #: 097W5

CARTOGRAPHER : WYTFLIET, CORNELIS VAN

DATE: 1597

SHORT TITLE : NORVMBEGA ET VIRGINIA. 1597

REMAINING TITLE & ID : (CARTOUCHE, TOP LEFT CORNER). "17" (TOP RIGHT CORNER IN MARGIN). LARGE COMPASS ROSE SHOWING MAGNETIC DEVIATION (LOWER CENTER). LONGITUDE (POSSIBLY EAST FROM FERRO, TOP AND BOTTOM BORDERS). LATITUDE (RIGHT AND LEFT BORDERS).

DATE OF PUBLICATION : S1597
PLACE OF PUBLICATION : LOUVAIN
PUBLISHER : JAN BOGAERT
LANGUAGE(S) : LA
SIZE (HEIGHT X WIDTH) : 23.0 X 29.0 CM.
SIZE - OTHER DATA : 27.0 X 34.0 CM. OM
SCALE - (RF) 1: : 5,250,000
SCALE - OTHER DATA : 1 INCH = c80 MILES
LIB. OF CONGRESS # : -
Md. HALL OF RECORDS # 1 : MSA SC1399-188
HUNTINGFIELD ACQ. # 1 : BB023-H2
REGION CATEGORY : GENERAL MAP OF SIGNIFICANCE TO A MD/CHESAPEAKE COLLECTION (3)
SPECIAL CATEGORY(IES) :
# SHEETS TO MAP : 1
MAP ORIENTATION : N IS AT THE TOP OF THE MAP
RELIEF SHOWN ? : YES
HYDROGRAPHIC DATA : NONE.
CARTOUCHE : AUGMENTED LINE FRAME (3)
BORDER : GEOGRAPHICALLY FUNCTIONAL (8)
PRIME MERIDIAN(S) : UNSPECIFIED BUT PROBABLY FERRO (22)
SEE ALSO MAP #s : 090W5, 098A5, 098M5, 100M5, 105A5.
BEST INFO SOURCE : THE SKELTON INTRODUCTION TO THE FACSIMILE ATLAS, VERNER AND CUMMING ARE THE BEST FOUND.
DESCRIPTION : THIS MAP IS SIGNIFICANT PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF ITS INCLUSION (AS MAP #17) IN DESCRIPTIONIS PTOLEMAICAE AUGMENTUM, LOUVAIN, 1597, WHICH IS DESCRIBED BY SKELTON AS THE FIRST SEPARATELY PUBLISHED ATLAS ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO THE AMERICAS. THIS ATLAS WAS MEANT TO AUGMENT PTOLEMY'S COSMOGRAPHIA BY DESCRIBING THOSE PARTS OF THE WORLD, REVEALED BY MODERN DISCOVERY, WHICH WERE UNKNOWN TO THE ALEXANDRIAN GEOGRAPHER. ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE 19 MAPS WERE TAKEN FROM THE WORK OF OTHERS, WYTFLIET'S EFFORT REPRESENTED THE CURRENT GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF AMERICA OF HIS TIME. LATIN EDITIONS WERE PUBLISHED IN 1597, 1598, 1603, AND 1615. FRENCH EDITIONS WERE IN 1605, 1607, AND 1611. NO PLATE CHANGES IN THE MAP ARE KNOWN BETWEEN THESE VARIOUS ATLAS EDITIONS.

WYTFLIET UTILIZED THE FIRST STATE OF JOHN WHITE'S MAP OF VIRGINIA THAT APPEARED IN DE BRY'S AMERICA, PART 1, 1590, AS WELL AS MATERIAL OF SPANISH ORIGIN. VERNER STATES THAT "WYTFLIET ATTEMPTED TO COMBINE THREE DIFFERENT MAPS OF THE EAST COAST BUT DUE TO ERRORS IN LONGITUDE HE CONSTRUCTED A LARGE EASTWARD BULGE IN THE CONTINENT NORTH OF THE CHESAPEAKE. IT IS THE ONLY MAP BETWEEN THE TIME OF THE WHITE MAP AND THAT OF THE JOHN SMITH MAP OF 1608 THAT HAS THE NAME VIRGINIA AS A PART OF ITS TITLE. THE NAME VIRGINIA DID NOT APPLY TO THE STATE OR TO THE JAMESTOWN COLONY. RATHER IT APPLIED AT THE TIME TO ALL ATLANTIC COASTAL AREA AS ENGLAND MIGHT CLAIM OR HOLD.THE MAP ADDS NO INFORMATION TO THE CHESAPEAKE AREA FROM WHAT WHITE GAVE, BUT LIKE JODE IN 1593, IT PLACES THE ENTRANCE TO THE BAY FAR TO THE NORTH WHERE MAINE IS TODAY. THE MAP EXTENDS FURTHER NORTH TO CAPE BRETON THAN DOES WHITE'S MAP. IT IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF MOIRE OR SHOT SILK EFFECT TO DEPICT THE OCEAN AREA. NORDENSKIOLD NOTES THAT WYTFLIET CONSTRUCTED HIS MAP ON A PROJECTION OF THE MARNIUS OF TYRE TYPE.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME NORUMBEGA IS CONTROVERSIAL. THE TERM APPARENTLY WAS AN INDIAN NAME FOR A RIVER. JACQUES CARTIER IN 1534 BROUGHT BACK FROM THE MONTREAL AREA WHAT HE THOUGHT WERE DIAMONDS, LATER FOUND TO BE WORTHLESS CRYSTALS. THIS MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE IDEA OF NORUMBEGA AS A RICH REALM WORTH FINDING. MERCATOR IN 1569 SHOWED NORUMBEGA AS A PLACE OF IMPORTANCE AS A FORTIFIED CAPITAL BRISTLING WITH TOWERS, NEAR THE BAY OF FUNDY. FROM 1604 TO 1607, CHAMPLAIN SEARCHED THE NORTHERN COASTS FOR NORUMBEGA, WITHOUT SUCCESS. HIS MAP OF 1612 GAVE THAT NAME TO AN INSIGNIFICANT INDIAN VILLAGE AT THE MOUTH OF THE PENOBSCOT AND THE NAME BEGAN DROPPING OFF THE MAP.

DATA IS FROM SKELTON, CUMMING, RAMSAY, VERNER'S [UNPUBLISHED] NOTES, AND PHILLIPS VIRGINIA CARTOGRAPHY.

EDITION & STATE INFO : ONLY A SINGLE EDITION IS KNOWN. THAT PLATE WAS USED APPARENTLY WITHOUT CHANGE IN BOTH THE LATIN AND FRENCH EDITIONS OF THE ATLAS.

HFC OWNERSHIP DATA : THE HUNTINGFIELD COLLECTION HAS A COPY IN OUTLINE COLORING, WITH SOME OF THE SYMBOLS COLORED IN. IT IS A SOMEWHAT WEAK PRINT. SINCE IT IS DETACHED, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO TELL WHICH EDITION OR YEAR OF PUBLICATION IT WAS FROM. THE COLLECTION HAD A BEAUTIFUL COPY OF THE 1598 EDITION OF THE ATLAS IN ITS ORIGINAL BINDING, BUT CONTRIBUTED THIS TO THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY FOR THEIR COMPUTER MAPPING PROJECT.

BIBLIGRAPHICAL REFS. : SKELTON, R.A., INTRODUCTION TO FACSIMILE ATLAS DESCRIPTIONIS PTOLEMAICAE AUGMENTUM, AMSTERDAM: MERIDIAN PUBLISHING CO., 1964; WINDSOR, JUSTIN, NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA, II AND IV, CAMBRIDGE, MASS: HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND CO., 1886; GANONY, W.F., CRUCIAL MAPS IN THE EARLY CARTOGRAPHY AND PLACE NOMENCLATURES OF THE ATLANTIC, 18-19; CUMMING, WILLIAM P., THE SOUTHEAST IN EARLY MAPS, CHAPEL HILL: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS, 1958, # 19, 127-8; SWEM, EARLE G., MAPS RELATING TO VIRGINIA IN THE VIRGINIA STATE LIBRARY, RICHMOND: VIRGINIA STATE LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES, 1989 REPRINT OF A 1914 ARTICLE IN THE VIRGINIA STATE LIBRARY BULLETIN VOL. 7, NOS. 2 AND 3; VERNER, COOLIE, [UNPUBLISHED] NOTES ON THE MAPS OF VIRGINIA; PHILLIPS, PHILIP LEE, VIRGINIA CARTOGRAPHY A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION, WASHINGTON: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1896, 18-19; STOKES, I.N.PHELPS, ICONOGRAPHY OF MANHATTAN ISLAND 1498- 1909, NEW YORK: ARNO PRESS INC., 1967, II, PLATE 20; PHILLIPS, PHILIP LEE, A LIST OF GEOGRAPHICAL ATLASES IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AMSTERDAM: THEATRVM ORBIS TERRARVM, LTD, A 1971 REPRINT OF A 1909 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PUBLICATION, I, # 1140, 1142, 1143, 566-568, III, # 3644, 3645, RAMSAY, RAYMOND H., NO LONGER ON THE MAP DISCOVERING PLACES THAT NEVER WERE, NEW YORK: VIKING PRESS, 1972, 172-188; THE THOMAS WINTHROP STREETER COLLECTION OF AMERICANA, (AUCTION CATALOG), NEW YORK: PARKE-BERNET GALLERIES, INC., 1967, I, 35-36; SABIN, JOSEPH, A DICTIONARY OF BOOKS RELATING TO AMERICA, NEW YORK: J. SABIN & SONS, 1868-1936, # 105696.

February 7, 1993


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