Map of the northwest coast of South America and the southern part of Central America

Map of the northwest coast of South America and the southern part of Central America.

Terra Firma et Novum Regnum Granatense et Popayan.

In addition to Asia, the Dutch also maintained an active presence in North, Central and South America. The trading activities there were coordinated by the West India Company or West-Indische Compagnie, which was founded in 1621. That the company was able to cover these extensive areas within a fairly short period was due in no small measure to the superior quality of the maps they had at their disposal. Much of this material was managed by Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571-1638) who was not only a publisher but also the official mapmaker of the Dutch East India Company. Naturally Blaeu was not permitted to reveal this extremely sensitive geographical data to the public at large, and so he was forced to make use of other materials in order to compile his maps. For this map of Columbia and the Panama peninsula, Blaeu made use of the 'Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien', a famous book by Johannes de Laet (1583-1649) dating from 1625. The map is also featured in the 'Atlas Maior' of 1665. Blaeu amended the map to some extent. -Cf. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, inv. nr. 36 G 19 after p.300; and Ibid. inv. nr. 40 E 6 after p. 266.