Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae Navigationum;

£20,000 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

a book of primary importance in the history of dutch navigation The first Latin edition of the first circumnavigation to have the official support of the Dutch government. A book of primary importance in the history of Dutch navigation, with descriptions of the Straits of Magellan, and (amongst others) Concepcion, Valparaiso, Callao and Acapulco, with engraved views of their harbours. Joris van Spilbergen (1568-1620) sailed from Texel in August 1614 with 800 men aboard six ships. Although his voyage was sponsored by the VOC, with a merchant aboard each ship, this was a privateering voyage. Landing first in Brazil, the fleet went on to sail through the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific. Travelling up the coast of South America towards Acapulco, Spilbergen raided Spanish settlements along the way. He saw himself as taking the war for Dutch independence from the Spanish to a new theatre, one of his prizes being the pearl fishing vessel the San Francisco captured at Zacatula, just North of Acapulco Crossing the Pacific to the Mariana Islands and then Philippine Islands, Spilbergen continued to harass Spanish ships, netting a considerable amount of prize money before arriving in Batavia in September1616. Transferring to the Amsterdam for the voyage home via the Cape of Good Hope, Spilbergen was accompanied by Le Maire and Schouten who had been tried for infringing the VOC's monopoly. Le Maire subsequently died on the voyage home, and the others arrived in the Dutch Republic

• Binding: Hardcover

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