The Maps of Bert Twaalfhoven
From the Collections of Fordham University Libraries
12) Pas-Kaart vande zee kusten van Niew Nederland anders genaamt Niew York. (Chart of the Sea Coast of New Netherlands Otherwise Named New York.) 1685.
Mapmaker: Johannes van Keulen
A fine example of one of the earliest printed maps of Long Island, Manhattan, and lower New England. The map is important because of the inclusion of many names not occurring on other maps as well as for its large scale inset map of the Hudson River, which is thought to be the first detailed engraved map of that river. This complex engraving, which actually contains three maps, also includes the earliest separate map of the Connecticut River (called by the Dutch the Versche or Fresh River). Shelter Island is both shown and named on the chart, possibly for the first time. The map is an excellent record of the earliest Dutch and English settlements along the Connecticut shoreline and in the New York City area ("Breukelen," "Hopoghan," "Ooyster Bay." "Tapaan"). The fort and settlements are shown on Manhattan, but a large, fictional bay appears on the West Side along the Hudson River. The chart has curious inaccuracies. Long Island is surprisingly misshapen for the period, yet Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, which had heretofore been poorly mapped, are both correctly named and, relatively speaking, in correct proportion to each other as to size.
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