Insulae Javae pars Occidentalis edente Hadriano relando [&] Insulae Javae pars Orientalis edente Hadriano relando

Gerard van Keulen was the second generation of the Van Keulen publishing house, In de Gekroonde Lootsman (“In the Crowned Pilot”), founded in Amsterdam by his father Johannes van Keulen I in 1678. The firm became one of the leading Dutch producers of maps, sea charts, atlases, and pilot books, and Gerard served as Hydrographer to the Dutch East India Company. This two-sheet map of Java was issued in the 1728 edition of De nieuwe groote lichtende Zee-fakkel, vol. 5, after Gerard’s death and under the continuing direction of the Van Keulen firm. Its geography is associated with the work of Hadriaan Reland, the Dutch scholar and philologist whose studies helped shape early eighteenth-century European mapping of Java.

The map divides Java into western and eastern sections and gives detailed attention to the island’s coast, settlements, rivers, mountain ranges, kingdoms, and surrounding waters. Hundreds of depth soundings and safe anchorages are marked around the coast, while the interior includes notes on kingdoms, mountain, volcanoes, rice fields, forests, animals, and the island’s population. Batavia is given special prominence. An inset in the lower left shows the roads and harbour of Batavia, including the surrounding islands and fortified approaches. The upper right contains a panoramic view of Batavia, the principal VOC centre in the East Indies, with the mountains behind. These details reinforce Java’s importance as both a navigational centre and the administrative heart of Dutch power in Asia.

This map is closely connected with Hendrik Doncker II’s Nieuwe Paskaart van het Ylandt Java (422), Gerard van Keulen’s Batavia road map (298), the English copy of that Batavia chart (298), and the later Van Keulen firm blueback chart of Java (468). Together, these works trace the increasing precision and administrative importance of Java within Dutch maritime and colonial cartography. Provenance: Ex Collection Geoffrey Allan Edwards (1947–2019)