The practice of decorating the margins of maps with
images reached its peak in the Dutch map borders
known as cartes à figures, or “map with figured borders.”
Voyages, specifically in the third part devoted to America titled Dritte
Amsterdam in 1602 and followed by various translations (plate
Buch Americae darinn Brasilia, durch Johann Staden …, published in
24). De Marees’s analytic interest is visible in the way people are
German in Frankfurt in 1593 (plate 22).
differentiated according to race, costume, customs, and social class.
The practice of decorating the margins of maps with images
In one depiction four women of Guinea are portrayed, and next to
reached its peak in the Dutch map borders known as cartes à figures,
each one, a letter (from A to D) refers to their textual description.
or “map with figured borders.” Strips framed the map on three
A is the Melato, of mixed Portuguese and African descent. She is
or four edges and included emblems, figures of people, busts of
fully clothed, and as de Marees commented, such women often
sovereigns, plans and views of cities, and the like, all relating to the
became the wives of Portuguese men “because white women do
geographical area mapped. Willem Janszoon Blaeu (1571–1638) is
not thrive much there.” B is described as a peasant’s wife on her
often credited with originating these delineated border decorations
way to market. She has scarification patterns on her face and arms,
in the early seventeenth century (plate 27). Frederick de Wit (1630–
long bare breasts, and only a skirt covering her. C, the Acatiassa
1706)’s map of America, titled Nova Totivs Americae Description,
(young girl or virgin), is appropriately clothed to demarcate her
published in Amsterdam in 1660 (plate 23), includes a strip at the top
virginal status but shows a breast to match the description as
with American cities—including the famed Tenochtitlan and Cuzco—
“short breasts, being in the prime of life.” D, known as Hiro, is a
and two on the sides with male and female types of American Indians
common woman breastfeeding her child. She also has scarification
from Virginia, Chile, Brazil, and Tierra del Fuego (or Magellanici).
and is bare to the waist. De Marees describes how “the child
These figures depict distinct physiognomies, cultural accoutrements,
sometimes cries for the Breast to suck, which the Mother throws
and clothing, and it is interesting to emphasize that they have been
at it over her shoulder, letting it hang to be sucked.” The engraver
separated and individualized in an attempt to classify them in a
had Jan Huygen van Linschoten’s Itinerario (Amsterdam: Cornelis
manner comparable to scientific taxonomy.
Claesz, 1596) as a visual model, and he understandably copied the
A similar approach is apparent in contemporary illustrated
Mozambiquan woman, despite that Mozambique and Guinea are
travel accounts. The Dutch explorer Pieter de Marees traveled
separated by the entire African continent.
to the Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea and wrote a
The fact that the marginal images of maps satisfied the curiosity
book titled Beschrijving en historisch verhaal van het Gouden
of their viewers for “exotic things”—as Ortelius described in the
Koninkrijk van Guinea (Description and historical account of
first world map (plate 20)—is highlighted again on Châtelain’s
the Gold Kingdom of Guinea), published by Cornelis Claesz in
map, which for that matter is titled Carte tres curieuse de la Mer
18