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This map of Southeast Asia features a rhumbline network, a web of lines used to aid navigation. Coastal areas are detailed while interiors are mainly blank, and there are illustrations of sailing ships, reinforcing the maritime focus of this map.

This map of Southeast Asia features a rhumbline network, a web of lines used to aid navigation. Coastal areas are detailed while interiors are mainly blank, and there are illustrations of sailing ships, reinforcing the maritime focus of this map.

French text on the reverse of this map describes the religion, languages, crops, trade etc. of Aracam and Pegu (Myanmar), Siam (Thailand), Cambaja (Cambodia). The map is dedicated to the Dutch merchant Christophoro Thisio.

This mid-17th century map of the Indian Ocean has a colourful cartouche illustrated with paintings of Asian merchants and warriors with bows and arrows. The scale is decorated with paintings of cherubs.

Mountains and jungles are shown pictorially on this map of Sumatra and surrounding islands. The cartouche is decorated with Asian warriors; the scale with cherubs playing with cartography tools. From Jan Jansson’s Latin edition of ‘Atlas Maritimus’.

Hand-drawn map of the Singapore Strait, with Singapore above (green coastline) and the Riau Archipelago below. Bathymetry (sea depth), shoals and reefs are marked. Two mountains at the eastern end of the strait are shown in profile as landmarks.

German text on the reverse of this map describes the populations, crops, trade etc. of Sumatra, Borneo, Philippines, and Banda Islands. There are drawings of sailing ships, and the map is dedicated to the Dutch merchant Christophoro Thisio.

This mid-17th century map of Southeast Asia is from Isaac Commelin’s book describing the voyages of the Dutch East India Company ‘Begin ende voortgangh…’. There is an inset map of the island of Botton (Buton Island, southeast of Celebes (Sulawesi)).

The outline of the island of New Guinea is very vague on this early 17th century map of Southeast Asia. The cartouche is decorated with two figures of Asian warriors: one holds a spear, the other a sword. There are also drawings of mermaids.

An early map of Southeast Asia featuring a rhumbline network, a web of lines to help plot routes and aid navigation. Where the lines meet, there is a compass rose with an arrow pointing north. The map is decorated with illustrations of sea monsters.

This map shows the route of the first Dutch expedition to Southeast Asia in 1595-7. Led by Cornelis de Houtman, it was an attempt to enter the spice trade. The route crosses east over the Indian Ocean, circles the island of Java, and returns west.

Adapted by Theodore de Bry from an original by Willem Lodewycksz, this map has some inaccuracies e.g. the Malay Peninsula (‘Chersonese’) is completely bisected by the Muar River, leaving the southern tip of the peninsula as a separate island.