Finished 10th June 2011 + updated 1st February 2015

1500 Pieces

Worldmap dated 1594
made by Petro Plancio

Orbis Terrarum Typus De Integro Multis In Locis Emendatus auctore Petro Plancio 1594

"This spectacularly decorative map engraved engraved by the Dutch master Jan van Doetecum holds the distinction of being the first world map to use a style of richly decorated border that would dominate world maps  for decades to come. The elaborate borders were inspired by drawings in the works of Theodore de Bry published a few years earlier and established a pattern of cartographical decoration that lasted over a century. The map also has great importance geographically, particularly in the mapping of the Arctic and the Far East. The map contains a marvelous attempt at a North-West Passage, and Plancius himself instigated the three voyages of Willem Barents (1594-1597) into the area. He used this map to give cartographic encouragement to the Dutch crews by turning Novaya Zemlya into an island with open sea between it and the Arctic. A sprinkling of English names in the Canadian Arctic appear as a result of Frobisher and Davis’s explorations in search of the passage in 1576-1587. The map is also a landmark in the mapping of Asia and Japan. Plancius was one of the first Europeans able to penetrate the wall of secrecy surrounding the manuscript portolan maps produced by Spain & Portugal." (source)