One of the earliest sea charts to show any part of Australia

HONDIUS, Henricus.

India quae Orientalis dicitur, et Insulae Adiacentes.
Amsterdam: Jan Jansson, c.1650, German text edition. Coloured. 395 x 490mm.

A very fine 17th century map of the East Indies covering from India to southern Japan. Australia appears, with Carpentaria and Arnhem Land as mapped by the Dutch vessel Duyfken in 1605-06, the first recorded European contacts with Australia.
Also marked is the route of Sir Thomas Roe (c.1581-1644) to Agra to take up his post as British ambassador to the emperor Jahangir between 1615-8. At a time that roads were not usually shown on maps, a line of named villages from Surat to Agra, Delhi and Lahore and, through the Khyber Pass to Kandahar in Afghanistan, illustrates his travels. His route was a southern spur of the Silk Road, making this one of the few contemporary maps to include such information.

TOOLEY: Australia 721; SUAREZ: p.201.
Stock ID : 23620