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First printed in the 1670s this map was so popular that it was printed up until the mid 1700s. This edition of the map comes from a Dutch bible circa 1736.

Interestingly the map displays two different solar systems at the top and bottom of the map. One solar system puts the earth in the centre of the universe with all of the planets and the sun orbiting around it (the Geocentric model), while the other diagram shows a modern yet incomplete Solar System. The Geocentric model was commonly believed up until the 1600s though by the early 1700s the Catholic Church had mellowed significantly and the observations and modern hypothesis by Galileo and other astronomers could no longer be ignored with the new solar system model putting the earth logically as an orbiting body around the sun.

Each corner of the map represents a different region or continent with its people and animals. The top right represents Asia, top left Europe, bottom right the America’s, and the bottom left Africa. Notable geographic points are no east coast shown on Australia, California as an island and no west coast of Canada.

View map online on http://www.antiquemapart.com/map/174