Tabula Islandiae

Richly embellished map of Iceland adorned with sea monsters, sailing ships, and an image of Mt. Hekla erupting.

This map is derived from the 1620 map by Jodocus Hondius, who derived his geography partly from Abraham Ortelius and Gerard Mercator, but also from a Dutch navigator called Joris Carolus who spent much of his life traveling in the northern seas, and likely visited Iceland on many occasions. He is credited on this map as "Georgio Carolo Flandro" (Joris Carolus of Flanders).

The rather crude and compressed shape of Iceland used by Hondius, and his contemporary Blaeu, was one of the longest-lasting depictions of the island and was used as the standard model for well over a century. This is partly a reflection of the dominance of the Hondius/Jansson and Blaeu families, but also an indication of how little new information about Iceland was being collected during this period.

German descriptive text on verso. Original hand-colour.