The New World Map and the Old

In 1648, Joan Blaeu, cartographer in Amsterdam, issued an enormous wall map of the whole world, entitled Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Tabula. This article explores Blaeu’s world map to discover the worldview it conveys. A close reading of the map, and especially of the hitherto neglected explanatory text below the map, reveals a telling story with a multi-layered message. The communicated narrative can be summarized as pro-Dutch (or actually pro-Holland), Euro-superior, maledominated, in favour of Copernicanism, and optimistic about the progress of knowledge since classical times.