1688 Frederic De Wit Map of Hungary

This is a c. 1688 Frederic De Wit map of Hungary and the surrounding region, including parts of modern-day Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, and Serbia. The map was issued at the height of the Great Turkish War (1683 - 1699), which ravaged the region, but a string of European victories ended Ottoman expansion into Europe.

A Closer Look

Spanning from Vienna (top-left) to Belgrade (bottom-right), the Danube River immediately commands this map. Buda and Pest are illustrated, along with numerous other towns and villages along the river and throughout the region. Mountains and trees are illustrated pictorially. The map's detail shows a sharp increase compared to the maps produced by the French and Dutch of the mid-17th century, reflecting the rise in interest in and data from this area during the Great Turkish War. The sharp detail of the south-north route between the rivers Sava Drava and the Danube leading to Vienna is less apparent, for example, on the 1677 Nicolas Visscher map covering this region. That said, De Wit's sources are obscure, a pity, as De Wit's map proved influential, being copied by the younger Visscher and other mapmakers, including Senex.

The map is embellished with an allegorical cartouche in the lower right. One putto holds an imperial crown over the arms of the Kingdom of Hungary. To the left of the cartouche, a cheerful putto brandishes a sword and a Cross while treading upon a fallen putto in Turkish garb. This unsubtle, triumphal image likely refers to the 1683 Battle of Vienna, a victory by the Christian coalition over the Turkish Empire.

Historical Context: The Great Turkish War

The Great Turkish War (1683-1699), also known as the War of the Holy League, was a pivotal conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition of European powers united under the Holy League, formed by the Papacy. The war began after the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683, where Ottoman forces, led by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa, were decisively defeated by a combined army of the Holy Roman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, and other European allies under the command of Polish King John III Sobieski. This defeat marked the turning point of Ottoman expansion into Europe. The war saw a series of major battles across Central and Eastern Europe, involving Austria, Poland, Venice, and Russia against the Ottomans. Key events included the liberation of Hungary and Transylvania from Ottoman rule, as well as the Venetian recapture of parts of the Peloponnese. The conflict culminated in the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, which significantly curtailed Ottoman territorial control in Europe. Austria gained Hungary and Transylvania, Poland recovered Podolia, Venice gained territories in Greece and Dalmatia, and Russia secured Azov. The Great Turkish War marked the beginning of the Ottoman Empire's territorial decline and a shift in the balance of power in Eastern Europe, solidifying Habsburg dominance in Central Europe while weakening Ottoman influence in the Balkans.

Publication History and Census

This map was created for inclusion in Frederick de Wit's Atlas. We see dates for it in institutional collections as early as 1659, but these reflect the dates of the composite atlases in which the map had been inserted, likely much later. Given the content of the map relevant to the early part of the 1680s, we support a date no later than 1688. The map is well represented in institutional collections.