Asiae Nova Descriptio

1595

Original hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Print size: 14.75 x 19.25 in (37.2 x 49 cm)
Sheet size: 17.75 x 21.75 in (44.8 x 55.2 cm)

Asiae Nova Descriptio — Ortelius’ foundational printed map of Asia and the East

Finely engraved plate with dense sixteenth-century toponymy; political regions differentiated in hand colour; ornate strapwork title cartouche; sailing vessels; speculative inland hydrography including Lake Chiamay (Cayamay); early printed atlas depiction of India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

This seminal sixteenth-century map of Asia by Abraham Ortelius, titled Asiae Nova Descriptio, represents one of the earliest and most influential printed atlas maps of the continent. Issued in Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum—widelyregarded as the first modern atlas—the map played a formative role in shaping European geographic understanding of Asia during the late Renaissance.

The composition extends from the eastern Mediterranean and Persia across the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, China, Japan, and the island networks of Southeast Asia. India occupies a prominent geographic position within a wider Eurasian framework of trade, travel, and cultural exchange, reflecting the growing importance of Indo-European maritime and commercial contact in the sixteenth century, particularly along the western Indian coastline and the Arabian Sea.

Ortelius’ cartography blends emerging empirical knowledge with inherited classical and mediaeval traditions. Inland Asia preserves period conjectures, including the speculative Lake Chiamay, imagined as a source of major Southeast Asian river systems, while East Asia and Japan appear in early European cartographic forms that document evolving cross-continental awareness. Coastal outlines and island groups reflect the gradual refinement of geographic knowledge through exploration and navigation.

Distinguished by crisp engraved linework, dense place-names, and original hand colouring that clarifies political divisions, the map is further enhanced by decorative elements such as sailing vessels and an ornate cartouche. As a cornerstone of early printed Asian cartography, Asiae Nova Descriptio remains a historically significant and highly collectible example of Europe’s first sustained attempts to visualise the geography of India and the wider East.

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