Authors

John I Pontanus (21 January, 1571 - 7 October, 1639), physicist/historian (Amsterdam).
Johannes Jovinianus Pontanus was a native of Helsinki who moved to the Netherlands and became professor of medicine and philosophy at Harderwjyk. Aswell as this history of Amsterdam, he is known for his role as official historiographer of the Danish king, Christian IV publishing his Rerum Danicarum Historia in 1631 and a description of Gelderland 1639.
TABULA GEOGRAPH, is a fine and uncommon map engraved by Jodocus Hondius from Johannes Pontanus’ history of the City of Amsterdam Rerum et Urbis Amstelodamensium Historia [Amsterdam 1611]. The map encompasses Western Europe, Africa, and all of the Asian coasts and territories bordering the Indian Ocean and China Seas, as far as Southern Japan and a prominent Northern Australia, denoted as Terra Incognita. The map follows previous models of Willem Lodewijcksz [1598] & Cornelis Claesz, although the outlines of northern Australia and of Honshu, Japan (here shown with the ebi or curved "shrimp" outline) are both newly revised. Pontanus’ map illustrates the extent of commercial expansion and the growth in Dutch knowledge of Africa and Asia in the 16 years since the Cornelis de Houtman’s pioneering voyage of exploration and commerce to Asia in 1595.
[Source: Roderick M. Barron]