Classic Dutch Golden Age rendering of the Chesapeake Bay and the regions of what was to become Virginia and Maryland.

The first map of the Chesapeake Bay was published by John Smith in 1612. In 1618, Jodocus Hondius II used Smith’s map as a source to issue his own map of the Chesapeake Bay, sparking sequence of maps of the same region which continued to be issued until the late 17th century.

 Hondius’s map is drawn on the same orientation, with north pointing to the right of the sheet but it is more developed and decorative than Smith’s map in keeping with Dutch artistic tradition. More importantly, its issue by such a prestigious cartographic publisher has been cited as garnering much needed publicity for the presence of English settlers in the New World. The founding of the colony of Virginia was not straightforward and it is often postulated that the Smith/Hondius map facilitated the raising of investment to ensure the survival of the fledgling settlement.

Jodocus Hondius died in 1629 and the plate for this map was acquired from his estate by Willem Blaeu, who promptly issued it in 1630, excising Hondius’s name and adding his own. This stimulated Henricus Hondius, brother to Jodocus II, to issue his own map of the Bay.

Essentially, the two maps are based on the same source and share the same information. Following his brother, Henricus also adds the images of Powhatan on the upper left as well as adding the coat of arms of Great Britain on the upper right. There are some differences, Henricus no doubt emphasising that this is a different map to Blaeu’s: the location of the key has been moved on this map to be to the left of the coat of arms, the fonts used on the two maps differ. Finally, the figure on the right is hipshot to its right as opposed to the left as on Blaeu’s map.

That image is based on a painting by John White, artist and leader of the failed Roanoke Expedition, who labelled it as “a Virginian Lord”. Theodor de Bry used White’s paintings as a source for his engravings illustrating his important books on the New World and Smith in turn used de Bry’s image on his map. In both cases, the figure is male and bare chested. The figure on Hondius’s map and its successors is now female with clothing on its upper torso and a caption in Latin stating the this is a typical female costume of the region.

The map by both publishers is considered one of the cornerstone maps for any collection of maps of Virginia or early America.

This example of the map was first issued in Hondius’s “Atlas Novus” in 1636 with subsequent editions in 1638, 1641 and 1644. Latin text on verso (image available on request). Original colour. [Burden 228] [USA9826]