A medal minted by the Dutch West India Company in 1637 in honour of Krzysztof Arciszewski as a cartographic source

Abstract

Abstract The author discusses a phenomenon of putting the works of military cartography on medals cast in the 17th century. The analysis focused on a medal presented to Krzysztof Arciszewski (1592-1656) by the Dutch West India Company in 1637. The obverse of this medal features two cartographic images depicting the siege of the Arraial Velho do Bom Jesus fortress (1635) and the battle between Camarigibi and Porto Calvo (1636). They were patterned after two manuscript maps. The maps were made by Arciszewski and attached to a memorandum written and sent to the management of the West India Company on 13 June 1633. They were engraved and published in print only around 1644. The plan of the battle that took place on 18 January 1636 indicates that the engraver (author unknown) used not only the manuscript version but also the medal. The example of the medal minted in 1637 confirms the credibility of cartographic representations featured on numismatic items. It should, naturally, be borne in mind that such representations must have been simplified due to the very nature of the means. Nevertheless, should there be no proper manuscript pattern, such objects may be used successfully as valuable cartographic sources.