Educational Map Series: Manhattan 1639- The first true map of Manhattan Island

This beautiful manuscript map is the work of Dutch cartographer and watercolorist Joan Vinckeboons, published in 1639. Vinckeboons came from a family of artists and started out drawing for his father. Around 1640, he got into map-making and is known for his beautiful watercolor manuscript maps of the East and West Indies. His stunning works became sought-after collector's item by society elites and royalty, such as Queen Christina of Sweden. With only one copy of “Manatvs gelegen op de Noot [sic] Riuier (Manhattan Located on the North River)” made at the time, and currently housed in the Library of Congress, this early map of Manhattan and its environs, shows Staten Island, Long Island, landowners, Indian houses, plantations and farms. Did you know that a portion of New York was once the colony of New Netherland? The first Dutch North American colony of New Netherland, extended from Albany, New York, in the north to Delaware in the south and included parts of present-day New York, Dela