Insulae Indiae Orientalis Praecipuae in quibus Molucae celeberrimae sunt.

This is widely considered to be one of the most beautiful maps of the East Indies, featuring three elaborate strapwork cartouches, one containing the title, another containing the names of the Molucca islands and the spices to be found there and the third showing a scale of distances. Further embellishments include compass roses, rhumb lines, and two galleons engaged in battle.

In 1604, Hondius bought the plates of Mercator’s Atlas and to compete against Ortelius’s, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, added thirty-seven new maps of his own, including two of Southeast Asia. The map derives much of its information from Plancius’s Spice Islands map, published in 1594, which was in turn based on Portuguese sea charts by Bartolomeu Lasso, Cosmographer to the King of Spain. Further information was derived from the most important sixteenth-century travel account by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten, Reysgeschrift van der Navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten 1595, which provided the detailed sailing instructions to reach the Spice Islands. In the following year, he expanded the account and added maps, issuing it with the title Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien.

This is one of the few maps of the period to show evidence of Francis Drake’s visit to Java during his first circumnavigation of the globe 1577-80. After fleeing religious persecution in Flanders, Hondius spent several years in London, during which time he helped to publicise Drake’s exploits. After capturing the Spanish treasure ship Nuestra Senora de la Conception, Drake in the Golden Hind crossed the Pacific, reaching Mindanao Is-land in the Philippines on the 16 October, 1579. He then sailed southwards and on the 4 November reached Ternate in the Moluccas where he was received by the Sultan. Sailing westwards, his ship ran aground on a reef in the Celebes and after repairs, Drake travelled southwards and became the first known European to make landfall on the southern coast of Java, landing at Tjilatjap. Hondius notes this landing with an inscription ‘Huc Franciscus Dra. Appulit’ [Here Francis Drake landed].

This state comes from the 1628 French text edition of Hondius/Mercator, Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura, identified by the page number of the text ‘677’. The text on the verso of this map includes detailed information on the Spice Islands, the various spices available and the fertility of the soil. 

References:
Clancy p.70, ill. fig 5.13
Howgego D74
Koeman I,Me 28A/677 P.338
Parry p.98 ill. pl.4.11
Quirindo p.102, ill. pp.28-29
Richardson 52-53
Suarez (A) p.193, ill. Fig.112.