Lectuli, et ratio, quibus chine proceres primarij (Mandarinos vocant) gestuntur [Means and Manners How China Chiefs are Carried]

Description

hand-coloured copper engraving view from his ‘Itinerario’, engraved by Henrik van Langeren., pp.32/33., printed by Cornelis Claesz.
Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611), a young Dutchman, served as the archbishop’s secretary in Portuguese Goa between 1583 and 1588. During this stay, he meticulously copied the secret charts page by page. Even more crucially, he provided nautical data like currents, deeps, islands and sandbanks that were absolutely vital for safe navigation, along with coastal depictions to guide the way. The publication of the navigational routes enabled the passage to the East Indies to be opened to trading by the Dutch, French and the English. As a consequence, the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company would break the 16th-century monopoly enjoyed by the Portuguese on trade with the East Indies.