India quae Orientalis dicitur et Insulae Adiacintes.

The first printed map to include the Dutch discoveries made on Cape York Peninsula and Australia&#8217s west coast. An excellent example of The Golden Age of Dutch cartography, superbly embellished with rhumb lines, compass roses, cherubs and galleons. At centre top is a title cartouche held by two male figures dressed in Asian livery and in the lower left corner is a Latinised dedication to Laurens Reael (&#8216Lavrentio Real&#8217) who had served as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies 1616-1617. The dedication is signed by Blaeu and is guarded by a female warrior and an armoured knight. Several cherubs are depicted along the lower border, playing with musical and navigational instruments. Hessel Gerritsz, the official cartographer of the VOC, produced the original map between 1628-1632. Blaeu had taken over from Gerritsz as VOC mapmaker in 1633, and in that position had access to the latest navigational information available from the East Indies. Helped by his friend Reael, Blaeu obtained the copper plate for this new map after the death of Gerritsz to add to his two volume Atlas Novus of 1634. Consequently the map has a number of the early Dutch discoveries including those by Dirk Hartog 1616 (&#8216T Landt van Eendracht&#8217), Lenaert Jacobs in the Mauritius 1618 (&#8216Willems Revier&#8217), Jan Carstensz on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula 1623 and de Wit on the northwest coast 1628 (&#8216G.F.de Wits Landt&#8217). Also noted are the Trial Islands near present-day Dampier named after the English ship the Trial. The Trial had sailed for Java and was only the second English ship to use the new sea route to the Indies pioneered by Brouwer in 1611 which took advantage of the westerly trade winds known as the Roaring Forties. The Trial had struck unknown &#8216rocks&#8217 on 25 May 1622 at night, in good weather and was wrecked with only forty-six survivors including Captain Brookes. In Brookes&#8217s subsequent report, he stated that the rocks were well west of their true position in attempt to avoid blame for his error. Within weeks of the Trial&#8217s wreck, another Dutch ship ran into difficulty in the area which caused great concern to the VOC. It was resolved in 1622 that two ships, the Haring and Hasewint, should voyage south to chart the South Land but en route the ships had to aid, the Mauritius and &#8216t Wapen van Rotterdam, consequently the voyage came to nothing. In 1623, two more ships, the Pera and Arnhem , were sent under the command of Jan Carstensz and Willem van Colster, resulting in the successful charting of the west coast of Cape York. The urgent need for more information of the west coast of Australia prompted Hessel Gerritsz, the official VOC cartographer 1617-1632, to issue a map in 1627 which included the Trial Rocks, to provide mariners with more accurate cartography of the region, Gerritsz&#8217s use of the reports from the English survivors of the Trial led to him to incorrectly place the islands. He stated &#8216Here the English ship the Trial went down in June 1622&#8217. Due to their incorrect placement on Gerritsz&#8217s chart, the Trial Rocks remained a mystery for a further two hundred years until Phillip Parker King in the Mermaid investigated their position in 1820 and finally confirmed: &#8216there remains no doubt in my mind but that Barrow Island &#8230 are the same Tryal Rocks&#8217. References: Allen p.80 ill. p.81, Clancy p.79, ill.map 6.7 pp.78-79, Clancy (R) p.77, ill.80-81, Perry p.31, ill.pl.12, Quirino p.105, ill.p.107, Suarez (A) pp.201-202, ill.fig.115, Schilder 40, ill.p.323, Schilder (K) p.81-82, ill.4.18(c) p.81, Tooley 223.