The Maps of Bert Twaalfhoven
From the Collections of Fordham University Libraries
1) Nova Anglia, Novum Belgium et Virginia + Bermuda majori mole expressa. (New England, New Netherland, and Virginia, and Bermuda Drawn on a Larger Scale) 1630.
Mapmakers: Hessel Gerritsz and Ioannes de Laet
This landmark work, the foundation map of New Netherland's printed patrimony, places the Dutch claim in its geographic context between New England and Virginia. The New Netherland name had prior to 1630 been featured on printed maps of the entire American coast such as the one of Willem Jansz Blaeu, ca. 1629. This map however is the first engraved map that focuses specifically on New Netherland and the first one to name New Amsterdam and Manhattan. Its publication date is twenty-one years after Henry Hudson's discovery; sixteen years after Adriaen Block's detailed charting of the New Netherland territory; and six years after the arrival of the first settlers on Governors Island. Subsequently the colony spread out to Delaware, Connecticut and the upper Hudson River. This transformed the region from being the prerogative of patented private fur trading monopolies into the North American province of New Netherland (1624). The New Netherland province's governance was entrusted to the West India Company. Now, the laws and ordinances of the provinces of Holland and Zeeland applied to the settlers.
Five years prior to the map's publication, construction of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island had begun and the founding of New Amsterdam had taken place (1625). This is also the first map to use the place name Massachusetts. In 1617 Hessel Gerritsz, publisher, hydrographer, cartographer and engraver, had been sworn in as the first official East India Company map maker. West India Company's director and chronicler, Johannes de Laet, featured 14 maps of North and South America produced by Gerritsz in the 1630 edition of his 1625 book, The New World.
About the New Netherland Institute
For over three decades, NNI has helped cast light on America's Dutch roots. In 2010, it partnered with the New York State Office of Cultural Education to establish the New Netherland Research Center, with matching funds from the State of the Netherlands. NNI is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. More
The New Netherland Research Center
Housed in the New York State Library, the NNRC offers students, educators, scholars and researchers a vast collection of early documents and reference works on America's Dutch era. More
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