Curaçao and Suriname – Archibald Fullarton, 1856

THE LESSER ANTILLES AND SURINAME

“Dutch Possessions in South America and the West Indies”, chromolithograph published ca. 1856 by Archibald Fullarton & Co., Glasgow & London. Size: 47.5 × 32.5 cm.

The print depicts the Dutch possessions in South America and the Caribbean, with maps of the Lesser Antilles (Curaçao, the ABC Islands, Saba, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius) and of Suriname (Dutch Guiana), including an inset plan of Paramaribo.

The decorative border is richly illustrated with exotic fauna such as a Cock of the Rock, Trumpet Bird, Anteater, and Sloth, as well as figures of an 18th-century planter, a Quadroon girl, and indigenous inhabitants of Suriname and Curaçao: an Arawak and a Carib. Also shown are a view of Curaçao from the east, and, at the bottom, the residences and outbuildings of the cacao plantation “Alkmaar” on the Commewijne River.

The map combines cartographic precision with the image that the Victorian public held of the tropical Dutch colonies — a fine example of the “illustrated geography” typical of the mid-19th century.

From The Royal Illustrated Atlas of Modern Geography — the last grandly produced and decoratively illustrated atlas published in England.

Price: €295