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Description
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This is a one of the earliest printed maps of the city and beautiful example of a cornerstone map in attractive coloring. Translation of cartouche text, view of Algiers, the most powerful town of the Saracens, built in the Numidian province of Africa and situated on the edge of the Balearic Current in the Mediterranean Sea, across from Spain. The plate of Algiers depicts the formidably fortified town in a low bird's-eye view, with a figure bottom left dressed in a turban and kaftan, the coloring of which matches that of the surrounding countryside. The fortress-like layout of the town, conveniently located on a harbor, features a well-laid out Old Town with five mosques, including, in the foreground, the Great Mosque (Q) from the 11th century. While Algiers belonged to the Kingdom of Aragon after the Reconquista in 1492, in the early 16th century many Moors, Moriscos and Corsairs made Algiers and Tunis their base. Among others Ferdinand, the Catholic, campaigned against their piracy; on the other side the Turks helped the North Africans and, with the exception of Morocco, the land became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1518-1519., Bird's eye view, with key to streets, buildings, gates, and other features., Key is in Italian, but title and other text is in Latin., From Braun and Hogenberg's Civitates orbis terrarum, part 2 (Coloniae: Apud auctores, et ... apud Philippum Gallaeum, 1575-1612), leaf S9 verso., Main Heritage Compact General, HC.MAP.00253, Print Map, Item-ID: i11400602, BIB-ID: 1845452, Georg Braun (1541-1622) was a canon of Cologne Cathedral and was responsible for the descriptions for each of the plates in the series as well as the introductions for each volume. Braun conceived the idea of the publication and sought the advice of many artists and printers of the time in Europe. Amongst the contributors were Flemish painter and draftsman, Joris Hoefnagel and his son Jakob Hendrik van Schoel, the surveyor Jacob van Deventer of the Netherlands, the English cartographer William Smith as well as Heinrich Rantzau, to mention a few of the ones involved with the project. Special emphasis should be noted with Joris Hoefnagel [1542-1600] who was one of the most significant contributors to the Civitates. |
