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Tijdschrift voor de geschiedenis van de kartografie in Nederland
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The beginning of the cartographical activities of doctor W.T.
Hattinga, and his two sons, important mapmakers in the Netherlands from 1744 untill 1755, is questioned in this article.
Untill now the map of Dutch-Flanders drawn by W.T. Hattinga for the Raad van State - Council of State - in 1744/'45, has
been regarded as the beginning of official cartography of the
Hattinga's for the military authorities. But from two unpublished letters written by W.T. Hattinga in 1744, kept in the
archives of the Raad van State at the General State Archives,
it can be deducted that W.T. Hattinga has already been working in 1739/'40 for Dutch diplomats in Antwerp.
One of the diplomats sent to a conference about trade-relations in 1737-1741 in Antwerp was Mr. Omar van Visvliet. He
is mentioned in the letter of Hattinga as the offly person whom
he has informed about the map. As Hattinga also writes that;
Van Visvliet was in fact the one who ordered the map to be
made. That Hattinga worked for diplomats, is also confirmed
by the report of the conference also kept in the archives General State archives, in which four maps can be found, drawn by
W.T. Hattinga in 1739 and 1740. These maps are identical
with the ones to in the Atlas van Staats-Vlaanderen by Hattinga in from 1751. Besides, Hattinga and Van Visvliet must
have known eachother very well, as they both worked for the
Admiralty, and several members df the Van Visvliet-family
worked ad doctors just like W.T. Hattinga.
Although Hattinga writes that he has been collecting and
drawing maps of Dutch-Flanders as a leisure, it seems very unlikely that he has been working for over twenty years on this
map, without ever receiving payment or support. It is more
probable that he drew the map for Van- Visvliet, but when his
maecenas subsequently died in 1744 he was forced to dedicate
his map to the Raad van State. The cartouche drawn on the
map shows the meeting of the Raad van State of 28 september
1744, with the members studying the map. In the,background
on the left Antwerp with Scheld-river is depicted, referring to
the conference and the maps delivered by W.T. L Hattinga tot
the Dutch diplomats.
As a result of this contact with the Raad van State W.T. Hattinga surpassed the militairy engineers, although one of them,
P. Wildschut, was working on a map of Dutch-Flanders since
1739.
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G. 't Hart
The map of Rijnland of 1647
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 1, pp. 12-15]
In the year 1615 Floris Balthasars van Berckenrode made the first printed map of the Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland. In the course of the years it appeared that the map contained quite a lot of inexactitudes. That's why the polder-board decided that a new map had to be made. This task was offered to the surveyors Jan Jansz. Douw and Steven van Broeckhuysen. They needed eight years until the new map was finished. A complete example of the issue of 1647 consists of twelve mapsheets, two sheets with a decorated title, and four sheets with the arm of Rijnland, an oval containing a text which refers to the privilege king Wilhem van Roomen (William of Rom) granted to the polder-board of Rijnland. The scale of the map is 1:30.000. The sizes are 77 inches long by 90 inches wide. The engraving of the twelve mapsheets was done by Cornelis Dankertsz., plaetdrucker te Amsterdam (copper-engraver and printer in Amsterdam). The sheets with the ornaments were made by Pieter Post. The title that is given to the map is Het Hooge Heymraetschap van Rijnland. At the second of May 1647 the map was finished. A hundred copies were printed. A number of maps were coloured and offered to, for instance, related polder-boards. In 1687 and 1746 the map was resived. The first revision was made by Johannes Douw, a son of Jan Jansz. Douw. The artist Romein de Hooghe made a new series of arrns of the members of the polder-board of 1687. The sheets with these new arms came instead of the sheets with the title of 1647. The sheets with the arms of 1647 were maintained. The second revision was made by Melchior Bolstra. (back)
Klaas Kalkwiek
The medieval world image V: The cartographical renaissance
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 2, pp. 22-29]
The "cartographical renaissance" of the fourteenth century
had its roots on the one hand in the need for reliable small-
scale maps, necessary for taking bearings at sea and on the
other hand in new insights into the method and ineans of
acquiring knowledge. In the latter field the Dominicans, and
amongst them especially Thomas Aquin (c. 1250) played an
important part. Thomas emphasized the meaning of nature
("natura"), or the visible material reality. This opened up the
possibility of research in this field. Human logic became a powerful weapon, even capable of proving God's existence.
However, because Thomas put the truth of ecclesiastical doctrine above all, fundamental doubt was impossibie.
More important for the scientific revolution of the late middle
ages was the work of the Franciscans. The members of this order wished to saf‚guard the sphere of God against logic and
observation. For man to penetrate into it, surrender, mysticism and devotion were the pre-eminent means. God was
considered to be too sublime to be proved by man. On nature,
however, man could release his intellect and senses, unimpeded by the absolute supreme authority of ecclesiastical doc-
trine. Thus, a Franciscan brother like Roger Bacon (c. 1270)
could emphasize the importance of observation and experiment, and following this, mathematical reasoning. He wanted
an accurate notation of the situation of geographical objects
and demonstrated a great interest in the experiences of his religious brothers in Asia. The Ptolemy-maps of the next century
were to realize Roger Bacon's cartographical wishes.
Cognitive psychology can stimulate research into medieval
cartography. Thus, the notion "mental map" is certainly applicable to medieval man. It is, however, difficult to reconstruct the spatial image of men of the past, because the
method of archieving this, the field survey, can, of course, not
be used. The rnaps, indicating where a number of medieval
authors show a concentration of places, are an attempt at
such a reconstruction. Showing the areas which an author
thought to be of importance is, however, only a limited reconstruction. Its is certain, that the average medieval person's
mental map must have been much simpler than the world
maps of his time suggest and that on the other hand the mental map of the medieval intellectual must have been much more complicated. The data in the literature accessable to him
were after all closer to reality than the mappae mundi in the
very literature. His mental image of the world may have
looked like a world map, "redrawn" using information about
shape and size of continents and oceans, as has been attempted in this series of articles on the basis of Kosmas
Indikopleustes and Orosius.
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Marc Hameleers
"Recent old maps" of the Hoogheemraadschap of Schieland
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 2, pp. 30-35]
In the last four centuries the polder-board of the "Hoog-
heemraadschap of Schieland" edited six printed outline-
maps. This article gives some backgrounds of the two maps
which were printed in 1874/'75 and 1928. Among others the
most importants persons who, and firms which contributed to
the two maps are mentioned. Further on the most important
reasons for the editing of poldermaps will be treated. The representative and the functional motive will be treated. After
that it will be mentioned for how far these motives exist for
the two maps. The representative motive will be treated by
comparing the maps of the Hoogheemraadschap of Schieland
with some older poldermaps. The functional motive by comparing the map of 1874/'75 and 1928 with those sheets of the
Waterstaatskaart 1:50.000 that represent the area of Schieland. The sheets of the first edition of the Waterstaatskaart
were printed ever since 1865.
The conclusion of the article is that the underlying conditions
for the producing both the maps of 1874/175 and 1928 are as
well functional as representational.
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Peter H. Meurer
A newly discovered map of "Germania" by Petrus Kaerius (Amsterdam 1610)
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 2, pp. 36-37]
On an auction in autumn 1984 the antiquarian Venator at Cologne offered a "Germania"-map, which was unknown up to now to map-historians and collectors. It was engraved 1610 at Amsterdam by Pieter van den Keere. It is an exact copy of a map, which was published c. 1590 at Cologne by Konrad Goltzius and Matthias Quad. (back)
A.H. Ruitinga
The 1735 atlas of the Ratelband heirs
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 3, pp. 42-44]
The Kleyne en Beknopte atlas, published at Amsterdam in 1735 by the heirs of J. Ratelband, was preceded in 1702 by Daniel de la Feuille's Atlas portatif. It was finally published in a modified form by David Weege in 1753. Copies of the Ratelband edition are in the Rijksprentenkabinet, Amsterdam, and in the Royal Library Albert I, Brussels. By chance having become the owner of a Kleyne en Beknopte atlas, the author lost herself in its various aspects. It appears to be a "war atlas", inter afia concerned with the Spanish War of Succession. From advertisements in the Amsterdamsche Courant it appears that the atlas could initially be bought for 12 guilders, and later for 15 guilders. The maps from the atlas also occur in the Europische Mercurius, a kind of biannual news- chronicle. The atlas of the Ratelband heirs contains the following categories of illustration: small-scale maps, town plans (mostly fortification maps), maps of military operations, town views (oblique perspective pictures and town profiles), pictures of buildings, and pictures of counts and dukes. The prints are rich in symbolism: there are all kinds of mythological and allegorical images, and the rivalling countries are often represented by animals, e.g. the French cock, the unicorn with an open crown around its neck (England), the eagle (German Empire) and the Dutch lion. Comparison of the copies in Amsterdam and Brussels and the one in the author's possession made it possible to supplement the information on these atlases given by Koeman in his Atlantes Neerlandici. (back)
Kees Zandvliet
Military Cartography Overseas after the set-back of 1780-'82: The West and the Coast of Guinea
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 3, pp. 46-53]
The 1780-'82 war between the Dutch Republic and England
confirmed the military weakness of the RepubIic. This became
clear in Europa as well as in the overseas territories. The defense of the Dutch commercial companies and societies was
not proof against the English fleets with modern artillery and
knding-forces. Recent investigations showed that already in
the last years of the 'ancien régime' military surveys had
started, as a result of the pressure exerted by the corps
engineers and patriots alike for a more centralized management of defense which resulted in the end in the printed series
of topographical maps 1:50.000/25.000 between 1850 and the
present.
Likewise a centralized rnethod of defense had started in the
colonies, already before the fall of the old government
system. Important figures for this were Joan Cornelis van der
Hoop, confidant of the stadtholder in naval affairs and initiator in the field of hydrography in the Netherlands and Carel
Dumoulin, head of the corps engineers. They sent Johan
Heinrich Hottinger, a very capable engineer and other officers in 1786 to Africa and the West-Indies to examine the
state of defense and advise on it. During this expedition of
1786 in due time a large number of plans and maps were made, also with a view to the broader context of the reorganisation of defense with more attention for mobile war at
land and the knowledge of terrain involved.
The maps and plans of the Dutch possessions in Africa and
Guinea give a good reflection of the situation before the termination of the companies and societies, they confirrn the
emancipation of the military engineers in the Republic, following the French and German example, and shade the image of
the government before 1795 as having only stuck to the old
principle.
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Eelco Runia
Eighteenth century Dutch maps of the Turkish empire
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 4, pp. 62-69]
Up to the present research on 18th eentury Dutch cartography, sparse as it is, has on the whole been oriented either biographically or bibliographically. In the present article an
attempt is made to a thematic approach. An overview of 18th
century Dutch maps of the Turkisch empire, mostly from the
Bodel Nijenhuis collection in the library of the University of
Leyden, throws a Iight on the developments in 18th century
Dutch cartography.
In the 18th century the evolution was in the direction of a
greater rationalization. Most of the rationalizing tendencies
do not surface in maps of the Turkish empire. In the first half
of the century, when there were no opportunities for surveying on the spot, nouveauté's like thematic specialization, new
projection techniques etc. were out of the question as far as
maps of the Turkish empire are concerned. In this period
there was, however, a real interest in the Turkish empire because of the continuous warfare in the Balkans - where the
Turkish infidels were 'rolled back' by the Austrians. By far
the greatest part of the 18th century Dutch maps of the Turkish empire sterns from this period.
In the second half of the century the great variety of Dutch
map-making firms had been diminished to three. The maps
they produced of the Turkish empire are capable but in no
way extraordinary. They were either based on earlier Dutch
maps or adapted from French ones. In fact there was a
relative decline: some foreign maps of the Turkish empire are
much more accurate, better drawn and more up to date.
A notable development was the disappearance of illustrations
from the map as such. If at all, they are found in the margins.
A parallel trend is the divergence between topographical information per se and non-topographic geographical information. At the end of the eentury Dutch atlases contain almost
only topographical information, i.e. maps. Maps and atlases
have become independent genre's. There are no longer sultans, exotic scenes or views on monuments to be seen on
Dutch maps of the Turkish empire.
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E. Dekker
An alleged case of plagiarism: Frederick de Houtman and his contribution to celestial cartography
[Caert-Thresoor 4(1985) 4, pp. 70-76]
In 1603 Fredrick de Houtman produced the first catalogue of
southern stars, published as an appendix to his Spraeck ende
Woord-boeck. In an introduction he explained that he made
his observations during his first voyage to the East Indies and
improved and extended thern during a second one. Since De
Houtman has been accused of plagiarism. we have investigated
his claim in some detail. We show that the data in his catalogue differ in many aspects from the data collected during
the first voyage by Pieter Dircksz. Keyser and others. These
differences confirrn that De Houtman made his own observations during his second voyage.
We cannot affirm nor deny his statement that he also made
astronomical observations during the first voyage. However,
considering the fact that this statement was part of the patent granted for his Spraeck ende Woord-boeck, considering
the reliability of the part of his claim that can be verified and
given the absence of direct contradictions between the statements of De Houtman and those of Plancius, we see no reason to doubt the integrity of De Houtman.
Next to it we think that the role of Pieter Dircksz. Keyser has
been overemphasized. The importance of his contributions to
the mapping of the southern circumpolar stars is not to be
doubted. However, we do doubt that he played a prominent
part in the formation of the constellations. That contribution
to the 'discovery' of the southern sky should be ascribed to
Petrus Plancius, the unchallenged initiator of this important
Dutch contribution to the history of celestial cartography.
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