Description:
Map entitled: "Nova Designatio Insulae Jamaicae ex Antillanis Americae Septentrion. non postremae Secundum Gubernationes." A decorative large format map of the island of Jamaica, divided by parishes, published in Augsburg by Matthäus Seutter. The cartouche depicts slaves harvesting, processing, and curing sugar cane along with sea turtles and a mermaid observing it all. The map shows the importance of the English Colony of Jamaica in the mid-18th century and includes topographical features, soundings in the southern harbors, and a host of other details. At the top right, there is a lengthy annotation in German. This is one of the most decorative maps of Jamaica to appear in a commercial atlas in the 18th century. Matthaus Seutter Biography: Georg Matthäus Seutter (1678-1757) was a prominent German mapmaker in the mid-eighteenth century. Initially apprenticed to a brewer, he trained as an engraver under Johann Baptist Homann in Nuremburg before setting up shop in his native Augsburg. In 1727 he was granted the title Imperial Geographer. His most famous work is Atlas Novus Sive Tabulae Geographicae, published in two volumes ca. 1730, although the majority of his maps are based on earlier work by other cartographers like the Homanns, Delisles, and de Fer.
Tags:
slavery; enslaved persons; mermaids Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2020.15.2 |
