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The 1675 Map 1

Let's turn to more beautiful things: the town map of Daniel Stalpaert from 1675
. Stalpaert (1615-1676) was city architect in the period of the great town expansion. During the whole seventeenth century the medieval city was expanded enormously. The map was made halfway this project.
The map is one of the wonders or Dutch Golden Age cartography. The original from 1663 is engraved in six black and white engravings. The copy I used is a colored painting from about 1675 with the individual houses added. It is not a good scan: although it is very detailed (400M, one pixel about 50 cm), when you zoom in too far it becomes hazy and the colors get blurred.
The map is signed by Stalpaert
. It has been decorated very finely, with a view of the city with putti and other figures
, and all kinds of symbols of richness, including Blacks and Indians, very appropriately carrying the riches
. Note that in the midst of all this, one of the putti is designing a map on a globe
! Maps were a prerequisite of Dutch merchant affluence; no wonder they put a statue of Atlas at the back of their town hall
. You can also see the ships in the harbour, where now lies Central Station
.
The title reads: "Amstelodamis veteris et novissime urbis accuratissima delineatio", "A very accurate design of the old and very new Amsterdam". I put a white border around the old part of the town
. You can see that in 1662 the new part had been completely walled in, but only in part built up. Outside the medieval town you can see very clearly the three grand canals. These are called from the inside (most important) to the outside: Herengracht (Gentlemen's Canal), Keizersgracht (Emperor's Canal) and Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal , called after the stadholder, the Prince of Orange). The order of the canals gives some indication of the the self-esteem of the Amsterdam "Heren". Beyond the three canals in the west (at right, the map is turned south) lies the working class neighbourhood "Jordaan", where the pattern of the canals has been left as in the pre-urban phase
.