Anonymous
After Weimar Geographisches Institut
Map details
Barents’ map from 1598/99 serves as an example for de Bry’s map but there are changes in some coastlines, in the lettering and in the decorative elements.Two versions exist, both in the „Petits Voyages“. The first state was published in the German edition in 1599, the second in the Latin edition of 1601. This impressive map is from the latter. Now the left-hand half of the title cartouche is filled with a Latin text which is identical to the Barent’s map and in the lower right corner a German mileage scale is printed.
The map shows Scandinavia, „Novazembla“, Spitsbergen („Das newe lant“), Greenland, Iceland, the mythical island „Frisland“, „Estotiland“ (Labrador) and „Grocland“ (,most likely Baffin Island“) and Strait Davis.
The maps optical center is the North Pole („Polus Arcticus“). Astonishingly also the „Polus Magnetis“ is marked. The Arctic Circle („Circulus Areticus“) runs too far south.
The map is decorated with two compass roses and lots of fish, sea monsters and fregates.
Iceland has only few places-names, mostly of fjords, peninsulas and islands, only three in the interior, the famous volcano Hekla and the bishoprics Skalholt and Holar.
