In the 1640s the idealized inhabitants of the country were depicted
The persistence of characteristics attributed to a country or region
in groups with their appropriate implements and domestic animals,
through the title cartouches is particularly evident in Willem Janszoon
and the development of Baroque art introduced a great variety of
Blaeu’s Aethiopia Superior vel Interior vulgo Abissinorum sive
naturalistic scenes, usually related to the region mapped, its people,
Presbiteri Joannis Imperium, a map that appeared first in the Novus
their customs, or the presence of the Europeans in those territories.
Atlas, das ist Abbildung vnd Beschreibung von allen Ländern des
The map of the Partie occidentale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France
Erdreichs, gantz vernewt vnd verbessert (Amsterdam, 1635), later in
by the Italian cartographer Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, published in
the Atlas Maior, Sive Cosmographia (Amsterdam, 1662–1672), and
Paris by Jean Baptiste Nolin in 1688 (plate 35), shows a group of
was reissued in other collection of maps, such as this general atlas
natives (distinguished by their nude torsos), probably les Nations des
(Amsterdam, 1696; plate 36). This map is based on the Presbiteri
Ilinois, de Tracy, les Iroquois, et plusieurs autres peuples mentioned
Johannis, Sive, Abissinorum Imperii Descriptio by Abraham Ortelius,
in the subtitle. They are throwing arrows at cattle that have been
included in his Latin edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
cornered in a lagoon or river by bonfires lit on the shore. At the top
(Antwerp, 1573), but as is common in Blaeu’s production, it has been
of a waterfall, two Europeans (dressed with hats, and firing weapons)
enriched with images, especially in the cartouches. According to the
are shooting at some other animals. Despite the apparent cooperation
title, the map represents the territory under the control of Prester
in this hunting scene between American Indians and Europeans
John, a mythical sovereign of medieval origin. His legend arose in
(probably from France, as the map presents the French exploration of
the mid–twelfth century when a letter started to circulate in Europe
the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi), it is important to emphasize
presenting him as a powerful Christian king and, it was hoped, an ally
that the dress and armament speak of the social superiority and higher
to fight against the Muslim conquest of the Holy Land and to protect
technical development of the latter and stress the wild status of the
Europe from the Mongols. Prester John was first located in India, but
natives. This savage America is even more evident in the smaller
in the fourteenth century his kingdom was transferred to East Africa,
cartouch RF