1727 Kaart van het Eyland Formosa en de Eylanden van Piscadores.

This is an authentic, antique map of the island of Formosa (present day Taiwan) and the Pescadores with a small portion of China. The map was created by Francois Valentijn and published by Joannes van Braam and Gerard Linden out of Amsterdam in 1727. This exceedingly rare map is the earliest printed map of Taiwan and the Pescadores. Oriented to the east with north pointing left, this map notes numerous depth soundings, rivers, bays, islands, and major ports. The interior is largely dominated by depictions of hills and forests, with obvious deltas and marsh lands covering the western half of the island. The map was based Johannes Vingboones’s 1640 manuscript map of Formosa. Vingboons based his famous map upon information leaned during the brief Dutch occupation of Formosa between 1624 and 1662. Throughout the mid-17th century, the Dutch VOC was in intense competition with the Portuguese over dominance of the China trade. Their hope was to establish a trading center on the western portio