Recens Edita Totius Novi Belgii, in America Septentrionali [An Updated View of New Netherlands in North America]

Matthäus Seutter

ca. 1730 · Hand-colored engraving; second state · Drawings and Prints

The Augsburg mapmaker Seutter based this rendering of America’s eastern seaboard on seventeenth-century precedents. A vignette view of Manhattan reproduces one created in 1654 to mark Holland’s brief repossession of the city. By 1730, Britain was in control, indicated here by George II seated below to receive Hermes, Athena, and Hera (symbolizing commerce, wisdom, and wealth), followed by dark-skinned figures carrying raw materials—an allegorized celebration of colonization that ignores the suffering endured by native and enslaved peoples. On the map, Native American place names predominate, with turkeys, moose, bears, and beavers used to indicate wilderness areas. Geographical inaccuracies abound and include the placement of the Meer de Irocoisen (Lake Champlain) east of the Versche (Connecticut) River.

Artist

Matthäus Seutter

Date

ca. 1730

Medium

Hand-colored engraving; second state

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, 1924