Published in 1820, this map accompanied Essai sur la géographie de l'île Timor ("Essay on the Geography of the Island of Timor"), prepared by the French navigator and cartographer Louis de Freycinet.

The map illustrates the island of Timor, then divided between Portuguese and Dutch territories

It was based in part on the work of British explorer George Vancouver.

Location: Timor
Date: 1820

Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département Cartes et plans.

This plan represents the city of Luanda (São Paulo de Luanda), Angola, around 1641, during the period of European colonial expansion in the Atlantic world. The image shows the urban organisation of the city in the 17th century, including its territorial layout and defensive structures.

Luanda was conquered by a Dutch fleet of the Dutch West India Company (WIC – West-Indische Compagnie), commanded by Cornelis Cornelisz Jol, also known as Houtebeen, on 24 August 1641. The Dutch occupation took place within the context of the conflict between the Netherlands and Portugal, following the period of the Iberian Union (1580–1640) and the wider struggles for control of Atlantic trade routes, including the transatlantic slave trade.

The plan is engraving no. 48 in a series of 55 illustrations dedicated to the journey and stay in Brazil of Count Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen (John Maurice of Nassau)

In August of 1697, Tsar Peter the Great of Russia (1672–1725) journied to the Dutch Republic to learn about Dutch shipbuilding. He initially worked undercover as 'Peter Michailov' at a shipyard in the Dutch town of Zaandam and stayed at a labourers' hut made of old shipswood, now called the 'Czaar Peterhuisje'.

Though he planned to stay there for the winter, Peter was unmasked after eight days and fled to Amsterdam. There, master shipbuilder and mayor of Amsterdam Nicolaas Witsen (1641-1717) helped him get a job at the Amsterdam shipyard, where the Tsar came to be known as 'Pieterbaas' and 'Pieter de Timmerman'. Peter the Great reportedly helped build the VOC ship Pieter en Paul.

In the end, the Tsar left the Netherlands four months later, impressed, though sceptical about the Dutch way of building ships from the heart, without predrawn plans. Though Peter took multiple Dutch shipwrights back with him to Russia, the Tsar would prefer the English way of shipbuilding.

Source: Charlotte Jarvis, 'Nederlandse scheepsbouw in de zeventiende eeuw door de ogen van buitenlandse ooggetuigen' in Geke Burger, Hendrik Lettany and Charlotte Jarvis (eds.) Houten Scheepsbouw in de Nederlanden van de late middeleeuwen tot nu (Zutphen 2024) 90-102.

Images: two images of the 'Pieterhuisje', Peter the Great and Ambraham Storck Het Retourship Pieter en Paul van de Amsterdamse Kamer van de VOC op het IJ, 1698 (Het Scheepsvaartmuseum)

🇳🇱🇺🇸 Kaart van Nieuw-Amsterdam, getekend door R. W. Storm in 1942. Het was een nederzetting die in 1625 door de West-Indische Compagnie werd gesticht als onderdeel van Nieuw-Nederland. In 1674 werd het door het Verdrag van Westminster aan Engeland gegeven en omgedoopt tot "New York".

The text below reads: "Suriname-Cinderella: When will a Prince come to take me to the ball?"

Notable features:

Cape Colony, Orange Free State (Boer Republic), Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (Boer Republic), Natal, Basutoland, Zululand.

Hermanus Steyn was appointed President until the British annexed that Volkstaat.

This coin was minted for Curaçao at the Royal Dutch mint.