Mappa Aestivarum | A Mapp of the Sommer Ilands [Bermuda]

Important map of Bermuda based on the survey of Richard Norwood.

Bermuda was known as the Somer Isles after Admiral George Somer who landed there in 1609 on a relief mission to the English colony of Jamestown. In 1622, the islands were first surveyed and mapped by Richard Norwood, who was brought to the island by the Somer Island Company to adapt a piece of pearl-diving equipment.




The first edition of this map was published in 1627 within Speed's atlas "A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World" and is one of two maps of the New World (the other map being of the Americas).

English text on verso. Image available on request. Coloured.