1631 Americae Nova Tabula

This is one of the more iconic maps of the Americas ever produced by the legendary Dutch cartographer Willem Blaeu. The map itself is similar to Blaeu's wall map of 1608 with the additional discoveries of Henry Hudson in North America, and Tierra del Fuego with Le Maire Strait. Examining the Map: Mythical and Unknown Places North America is divided into several large regions with very little cartographic information west of the Appalachians or north of 40 degrees latitude, including a complete absence of the Great Lakes. To fill in such a large blank space, Blaeu uses an inset map of Groenlan (Greenland), Islandia (Iceland), and the mythical island of Frislandia, which first appeared in the influential Zeno map of 1558. The coastal outlines generally follow Ortelius and Wytfliet with nomenclature from a variety of explorers and colonists. In South America, the mythical “Parime Lacus,” can be found along the equator with the fabled golden city of Manoa or El Dorado nestled on its north