Map of Ethiopia & Abyssinia c.1640

By Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571–1638) also known as Willem Jansz, a Dutch cartographer, globe maker, and publisher.
He was one of the leading figures of the Dutch school of cartography in the seventeenth century.

Trained in astronomy under Tycho Brahe between 1594 and 1596, Blaeu established a workshop in Amsterdam where he produced globes, nautical charts, and maps. These works formed the basis of a series of atlases, including the Atlas Novus (1635), and were widely used in navigation and geographic study.

In 1633 he was appointed mapmaker to the Dutch East India Company. After his death in 1638, his business was continued by his sons, including Joan Blaeu, who later published the multi-volume Atlas Maior, one of the most extensive atlases of the seventeenth century.

Translation of cartouche text: Upper or Central Ethiopia, in the vernacular "The Empire of the Abyssinians or Prester John". Prester John is a mythical Christian King thought to have lived in East Africa.

520mm x 405mm excluding mountboard (unframed)

R8,500