First published in Botero's "Theatrum Principum Orbis Universi ... Cologne, 1596".

Extremely rare and early map of the Moghul Empire, also covering the Himalayas, Bengala, Burma, northern Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam and the southwestern parts of China. The Thai capital of Sian is in the lower right, and on the right is the Chinese port of Canton with the Pearl River. The map has no latitude and longitude coordinates.

The publication of Giovanni Botero's Theatrum in 1596 marked the first occasion when Ortelius's map was copied by reduction in size to some 60%. The map also appears in works by Johannes Metellus (Jean Matal).

The map originally published by Botero was exclusively used in his publications from 1596 to 1599. As of 1600, the map was also used, unchanged, in Metellus's Asia Tabvlis Æneis and Speculum Orbis Terrae.

Based on detailed comparison made between examples of the map included in Theatrum Principium... 1596 and that included in the Specvlvm Orbis Terre... 1602, it would appear that there is only one state of this map.

(Hubbard)

Ref: Meurer BOT 1 map Bot 12.

Giovanni Botero (1533-1617) was born in Bene, Piemonte. He received a Jesuit education and entered the Order, becoming a teacher of rhetoric and philosophy in Italy and France. He was one of the greatest economists of the sixteenth century and considered a precursor of Malthus. He was expelled from the Order after delivering a sermon where he criticized the worldly authority of the Pope. His first geographical work, Le Relationi Universali, was published in 1591 but contained no maps.

(Hubbard)

Antique maps of China
Antique maps of Southeast Asia
Antique maps of India and Ceylon
Old books, maps and prints by Giovanni Botero