Insulæ Americanæ in Oceano Septentrionali cum Terris adiacentibus [American Islands in the Northern Ocean with adjacent lands]
West Indies; Circum-Caribbean, Central America, Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Gulf Coast.
[Blaeu, Johann]
[Amsterdam]
See Phillips, vol. 3, #3430, p. 161. Hand colored. Can be considered a chart rather than a map, as a martime application is indicated: rhumb lines, three compass roses. The scale of the chart, however, is too small for practical use as a portolan chart, and may have been used as a quick reference while at sea rather than for actual navigation.
Plate 8, Vol. 11, from Blaeu's "Atlas Maior sive Cosmographiæ Blaviana."
Includes three cartouches. Lower right, putti holding mid 17 c. navigational instruments: pair of compass dividers and a cross-staff (instrument used to measure altitudes of the sun and stars in order to ascertain latitude). Lower left cartouche features coat of arms, putto reading book, female figure being bitten by a snake. Title cartouche is flanked by two putti, and surrounded by snakes, lizards, bats, and a turtle.