Nova et accuratissima totius terrarum orbis tabula

Joan Blaeu was one of the principal Amsterdam atlas publishers of the seventeenth century.

Building on the cartographic business established by his father, Willem Jansz.

Blaeu, he expanded the family atlas project into the Atlas Maior, first issued in Latin in 1662.

This double-hemisphere world map was first published in 1662 in vol. 1 of the Atlas Maior.

It presents the known world in the mid-seventeenth century, incorporating recent Dutch voyages in the Pacific and Southern Hemisphere while retaining a decorative framework grounded in classical and cosmographical traditions.

The map incorporates Dutch discoveries in the Pacific and Southern Hemisphere, including Abel Tasman’s discoveries from 1642–1643 and 1644, with Tasmania labelled as Antony van Diemen’s Lant, It also records earlier Dutch encounters with the Australian coast, including Dirk Hartog’s landing in 1616, Frederik de Houtman in 1619, Jan Carstensz. in 1623, Pieter Nuyts in 1627, and Gerrit Frederiksz. de Witt in 1628.

Some features, such as R.

Stater for the Staten River, reflect the still-developing state of geographic knowledge.

Classical authority is acknowledged through the flanking figures of Claudius Ptolemy and Marinus of Tyre, each holding instruments of measurement.

Allegorical figures of the seasons and planets—some derived from engravings by Antonio Tempesta—frame the world within a traditional cosmological order.

The celestial scene includes the seven classical planets personified: Jupiter with eagle and thunderbolt; Venus with Cupid; the Sun as a Christ-like ruler of the cosmos; and the Moon as a horned, fallen figure, suggesting Lucifer.

Mercury, Mars, and Saturn appear with their usual attributes.

Compared with #75, this map omits the ship below Australia and the three flying fish in the Atlantic.

It includes a ship off the east coast of South America and two ships off the west coast.