Bermuda – Willem Blaeu, ca. 1630

THE BERMUDAS

“Mappa Aestivarum Insularum, alias Barmudas” copper engraving published by Willem Blaeu in Amsterdam approx. 1630. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 40,4 x 53,1 cm.

In 1612, the English began settlement of the Bermuda archipelago with arrival of the ship the Plough. New London (renamed St. George’s Town) was settled that year and designated as the colony’s first capital. (In modern times it is the oldest continually inhabited English town in the New World.)

In 1615, the colony, which had been renamed the Somers Isles in commemoration of Sir George Somers, was passed on to the Somers Isles Company. As Bermudians settled the Carolina Colony and contributed to establishing other English colonies in the Americas, several other locations were named after the archipelago. During this period the first slaves were held and trafficked to the islands.

Blaeu based his work on John Speed’s very accurate map of 1626-1627. It shows the island divided into tribes and lots. Below the map itself appear the names of the first proprietors and the number of shares assigned to each. A splendid cartouche shows Neptune astride the Royal Arms holding a ship. The miniature map below the cartouche shows the correct proportion of the island to the coast of the mainland.

Further adorned with scale cartouches, coats of arms and compass rose with a fleur-de-lys. The map is superimposed over a map of the Atlantic with the coastlines of Britain, North America and Hispanola showing the location of Bermuda.

Price: Euro 2.150,-