1695 Nieiuwe Paskaart van de Orcades. Eylanden.

By: Johannes van Keulen Date: 1695 (Published) Amsterdam Dimensions: 20 x 23 inches (51 x 58.4) Oriented west, this superb sea chart by Johannes van Keulen depicts the Orkney archipelago off the northeast coast of Scotland. One small island and a portion of another of the Shetlands are also depicted. Referred to in ancient classical literature as the Orcades, Emperor Claudius is said to have added them to the Roman Empire during his reign. No Roman settlements are known in the Orkneys, but artifacts of Roman origin have been found, lending credence to the claim.  The group consists of approximately seventy islands, twenty of which are inhabited and have been for millennia, some since the Neolithic era. Remains of those civilizations are abundant in places, and those on the island of Mainland are a designated UNESCO world heritage site which includes underground dwellings, standing stone circles and earthen houses. Norsemen arrived in the 8th century CE and began to colonize the islands