North Holland – François Desterbecq, 1841

“Kaart van de Provincie Nd. Holland. Verdeeld in Arrondissementen en regterlijke Kantons ingevolge besluit van Z.M. den Koning der Nederlanden.” [Map of the Province of North Holland, divided into Arrondissements and Judicial Cantons in accordance with the decree of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands.] Lithograph made in 1841 by François Desterbecq in The Hague for the “Nieuwe Atlas van het Koningrijk der Nederlanden.” With original hand colouring. Size: 78.5 × 45 cm.

The map appeared at a time when the Kingdom of the Netherlands had to redefine itself administratively and cartographically following the Belgian Revolution of 1830. After the final separation of Belgium in 1839, there was a need for new atlases in which the provinces of the reduced kingdom were accurately depicted together with their administrative divisions, such as arrondissements and judicial cantons. The statistical overview in the lower right corner of the map shows how strongly North Holland had by then been shaped by land reclamation and agriculture. Large lakes that had threatened the surrounding land during the Middle Ages had been drained in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, creating fertile polders such as the Beemster, Purmer, Schermer, and Heerhugowaard. These reclamations produced extensive agricultural land that contributed to the production of grain, potatoes, hemp, flax, and other crops listed in the table. At the same time the landscape remained closely connected to water: the open Zuiderzee and the IJ continued to define the character of the province. Amsterdam formed the economic centre, while Den Helder, thanks to the Noordhollandsch Kanaal (1819–1824), developed into the country’s principal naval harbour. The Haarlemmermeer, situated on the border with South Holland, still existed at this time and would only be drained later, between 1849 and 1852.

Jean-François Desterbecq (1807–1896) worked as an engraver at the Military Topographical Bureau in Ghent (1826–1830) and during the Belgian Revolution was appointed “first topographical and geographical engraver of the General Depot of War.” In 1840 he settled in The Hague as an independent lithographer (Etablissement Géographique et Lithographique de F. Desterbecq, à La Haye), and in 1845 moved to Maastricht. In 1846 he left for Brussels.