One of the earliest commercially available depictions of Cape Town and its environs. This map appeared in Francois Valentijn's important history of the Dutch East India Company, the “Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien” published in 1727.

Cape Town had been developed by the employees of Dutch East India Company (VOC) as early as 1652; it played an important part as a logistical point for Dutch ships on their way to and from the Spice Islands. Valentijn devotes several images, maps and charts to the Cape of Good Hope in general and his work describes it in copious detail. This map is unusual in its depiction of not only the fort but also the nearby settlement and the large areas of cultivation in its environs. The initial settlers brought over a large collection of seeds and found the surrounding area remarkably fertile.

While there are several images of the fortress of Cape Town in other publications and atlases, the combination of civilian settlement, the fort and the surrounding areas of cultivation seems to be unique to this particular map at this time.

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