The Manatus Map is a 1639

city map A city map is a large-scale thematic map of a city (or part of a city) created to enable the fastest possible orientation in an urban space. The graphic representation of objects on a city map is therefore usually greatly simplified, and reduced ...

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

and other

New Netherland settlements New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory was the land from the Delmarva Peninsula t ...

surrounding

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

, with pictorial elements, and bearing the title '' Manatus on the North River''. Drafted during the period of

Willem Kieft Willem Kieft (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647. Life and career Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director b ...

's directorship, its authorship disputed. Edward Van Winkle of the Holland Society of New York attributed it to the Dutch cartographer

Johannes Vingboons Johannes Vingboons (1616/1617 – Amsterdam, 20 July 1670) was a Dutch cartographer and watercolourist. Biography Vingboons came from an artistic family. His father David Vinckboons (1576–1632) was a successful painter and, of his five brot ...

, who made many manuscript maps for the West India Company. According to

Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes (April 11, 1867 – December 18, 1944) was an American architect. Stokes was a pioneer in social housing who co-authored the 1901 New York tenement house law. For twenty years he worked on ''The Iconography of Manhatt ...

, Vingboons was among several possible creators, and only excludes

Andries Hudde Andries Hudde (1608–1663) was a landowner and colonial official of New Netherland. Early life and New Amsterdam Andries Hudde was born in Kampen, Overijssel in the Netherlands in 1608 to Hendrick Hudde (himself son of the local burgomaster ...

as the likely cartographer, as he was in a different part of the world at the time. The original drawing is lost and It survives only in two later 17th century copies made in the same studio with slight differences, as noted in Stokes' ''

The Iconography of Manhattan Island ''The Iconography of Manhattan Island'' is a six volume study of the history of New York City by Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, published between 1915 and 1928 by R. H. Dodd in New York. The work comprehensively records and documents key events of t ...

''. One of the copies came from the same collection as the

Castello Plan The Castello Planofficially entitled ''Afbeeldinge van de Stadt Amsterdam in Nieuw Neederlandt'' (Dutch, "Picture of the City of Amsterdam in New Netherland")is an early city map of what is now the Financial District of Lower Manhattan from an o ...

Villa di Castello The Villa di Castello, near the hills bordering Florence, Tuscany, central Italy, was the country residence of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1519-1574). The gardens, filled with fountains, statuary, and a grotto, became famous thro ...

, the other from a

Henry Harrisse Henry Harrisse (May 28, 1829 – May 13, 1910) was a writer, lawyer, art critic, and American historian who authored books on the discovery of America and geographic representations of the New World. Biography Henry Harrisse was born Hen ...

donation to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. The Harrisse copy is twenty-six and five-eighth inches by eighteen and one-fourth inches in size and shows Manhattan Island with Westchester and Bronx Counties on the North; a good part of Long Island on the East; the Bay, ''Sant Punt'', and ''Hoogen Hoeck'' on the South; with Staten Island, ''Achter t' Col'', Newark Bay, the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, and

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

("Conyni Eylant" in Harrisse or "Konyne Eylandt" in Castello) on the West. Sufficient of the surrounding country is shown to give a good idea of the comparative importance of the Island of Manhattan and its location with respect to the mainland. It also includes an inset with the names of early Manhattan settlers.

References

External links

The Manatus Maps
The Iconography of Manhattan Island 1639 works 17th-century maps and globes History of New York City Maps of cities Maps of New York City New York (state) maps {{NYC-stub

See also

References

External links