1656 Jansson/Visscher Map of New England (Rare Second State)

This is the rare, c. 1656 second state of the Jansson/ Visscher map of the New Netherlands and New England. It is the earliest acquirable state of this work: the first, 'proof state', of this masterwork is an unobtainable rarity, known in only four examples in institutional and private collections.

Suppression and Politics

This second state is most easily identifiable by the presence on the Delaware River of Fort Kasimier, but the absence of Philadelphia. (Later states also include additional place names, such as Pennsylvania and 'Niew Jorck.') Despite - or perhaps due to - this map's superb detail and precision in its presentation of New Netherland, it was poorly disseminated. Neither the first nor the second state appeared in any of Visscher's atlases. Separately acquired examples have appeared tipped into Blaeu and Jansson atlases, but the map was not included in the Visscher family's atlases until the production of the third and fourth states: an irony, since by the time these 1684 states were printed the colony had been ceded to Great Britain and renamed New York - thus rendering them irrelevant (and perhaps this is the point). It is possible that there was at least some passive suppression of the map's publication, as no privilege is included until until the 1684 fourth state. The association of this map with the Remonstrance of Adriaen van der Donck - who was engaged in protest against Pieter Stuyvesant's management of the New Netherlands colony - would have weighed against Visscher's gaining a privilege for this work. Also, the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652 - 1654) may have dissuaded the Dutch from more broadly disseminating so revealing a map of one of the contested areas.

Jansson's Northeast

The cartography for this map was drawn from the 1651 Jansson Belgii Novi, Angliae Novae, Et Partis Virginiae Novissima Delineatio. This so-called 'prototype' map was the first iteration of the dominant mapping of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic well into the eighteenth century. It was first to approximate the correct shapes of Manhattan and Long Island. It was also the first map to show Swedish settlements along the Delaware River, and the first compendium of regional Native American tribes encountered by the Dutch and the English. All maps of the Jansson-Visscher series ultimately take their model from the 1651 Jansson, which covered from the St. Lawrence River to the Chesapeake Bay, and from the Susquehanna River to the Penobscot, incorporating most of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.

Firsthand Information for New Netherland

The heart of this map is the space falling between the Versche Rivier (Connecticut River) and the Zuydt River (Delaware). This was the area claimed by the Dutch as New Netherland, against the claims of England to the East, and Sweden to the Southwest. The cartography is drawn from a large manuscript map, credited to Adrien van der Donck, used by New Netherlands colonists to protest negligence on the part of the Dutch West India Company (Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie / GWC), the organization that formally owned New Netherland. Van der Donck, a lawyer, early resident of New Amsterdam, and the schout of Rensselaerwyck (Rensselaer), led the protest against Pieter Stuyvesant's policies. This accounts for the map's remarkable detail of the Hudson valley as far north as the Mohawk River. The headwaters of the Mohawk are placed close to those of the Susquehanna River (some thirty miles separate the upper Mohawk River from Otsego Lake, the source of the North Branch of the Susquehanna). The placement of these rivers is reflective of the importance of the Hudson-Mohawk-Susquehanna circuit, a fur trading artery; it also highlights this map's relevance to the conflicts between Native American powers and the European newcomers. The Susquehannock tribe, in particular, appear prominently - indeed the Lenape of the Delaware River and New Amsterdam were by this time tributaries of the Susquehannock. Although an Iroquoian-speaking tribe, they were not part of the Iroquois 'Five Nations' league and were in fact at war with the Iroquois for much of the period in which this map was relevant. Although some elements of the Five Nations appear - the Seneca are named, and placed in the upper Susquehanna valley - the most prominent reference to the Iroquois is in the vicinity of the great 'Lacus Irocoisiensis' (Lake Champlain), here appearing far to the east of its actual location following the model of the 1612 Samuel de Champlain map.

New Sweden, the Susquehannock, and the Peach Tree War

The key defining feature of this second state of the Jansson/Visscher map is the appearance, on the Delaware River, of Fort Kasimier. This Dutch fort was established in 1651, but appears neither on the c. 1655 first state nor on the 1651 Jansson 'Prototype' map. Its appearance here seems to coincide not with the building of the fort, but in its 1655 recapture from the Swedish. Swedish settlement of the Delaware began with Dutch cooperation: their first settlement in 1638 of Fort Christina (Wilmington, Delaware) was led by Peter Minuit himself, who purchased the right to settle from the Susquehannocks. Susquehannock/Dutch relations were fragile, largely due to the Dutch-Iroquois alliance. New Sweden's proximity and relative vulnerability made them a much more attractive trade partner, and the Susquehannocks made New Sweden a protectorate and tributary while also becoming New Sweden's main supplier of furs and pelts.

The Dutch rejected Sweden's colonial claims, asserting the Delaware River as part of New Netherland; the Dutch establishment of Fort Kasimier in 1651 was the first stage of Dutch efforts to re-establish control over their westernmost claims. The placement of Fort Kasimier cut off New Sweden from the ocean, and the protection of Nya Elfsborg. Fort Kasimier can be seen just downstream of the Swedish Fort Christina, as well as the upstream Swedish settlements. (The forts and settlements of Lapananel, Finland, Uppland, Mölndal, Nya Gothenborg, Gripsholm, Nya Vasa all appear on the west bank of the Delaware.) In 1654, New Sweden attacked and captured Fort Kasimier, expelling the Dutch from the Delaware Valley. That same year, the Swedes and Susquehannocks met to reaffirm their agreements. Thus, those agreements were in force when the Dutch, led by Pieter Stuyvesant, seized New Sweden between September 11 and 15, 1655. The Susquehannocks were swift to respond, with a series of attacks on Dutch settlements on the Hudson River. Six hundred warriors were able to attack New Amsterdam with virtual impunity before attacking Pavonia, Paulus Hook, Harlem, Staten Island and the Bronx, taking hostages in Paulus Hook. (Adriaen van der Donck's own estate of Colen Donck was raided during the war, and it is possible though not certain that he was killed.) The captured settlers were ransomed for armaments and wampum. Settlements on the western bank of the Hudson were abandoned. The Susquehannock attack was a resounding success, but the message was lost on the Dutch. Although the Swedes knew the Susquehannocks were honoring their treaty and retaliating after the Dutch conquest of New Sweden, the Dutch believed the attacks were a retaliation for the killing of a young Wappinger woman by a Dutch settler. The Wappinges, established in Southern New York, were an Algonquian speaking people not at all associated with the Susquehannocks.

The Visscher View

This is the earliest glimpse afforded the collector of this very early view of New Amsterdam, the colonial town that would become New York. This dramatic view of the southern tip of Manhattan was based upon a 1648 watercolor, now in Vienna's Albertina, attributed to Augustin Herman (c. 1621 – 1686). The watercolor view was first committed to print by Joan Blaeu for presentation with Van der Donck's 1650 Remonstrance. The view's addition to this map by Visscher would prove far more visible than the Remonstrance, and thus the illustration became known, somewhat erroneously, as the 'Visscher View.' Authorship and appellation notwithstanding, this is the earliest view of Manhattan available to the collector; Philip Burden considers the map 'of extreme importance' for its inclusion of the view. Its appearance here - without any defensive palisade - reveals the vulnerability that contributed to Susquehannock successes in the 'Peach Tree War.'

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved by N. J. Visscher c. 1655, but was not included in any of the Visscher atlases until the heavily amended c. 1684 edition published by Nicolas Visscher II. This example is the c. 1656 second state, per Burden and Tooley. The map names Fort Kasimier, which was lacking on the 1655 first state, but does not show Philadelphia, which does not appear until the 1684 third state. Both the first and second states bear the imprint Nicolao Joannis Visschero. The third and fourth states bear the imprint of his son, per Nicolaum Visscher. Early, pre-atlas states are rare. We see only ten examples of this state of the map catalogued in institutional collections.