1596 BOTERO,G. - Very rare and unusual map depiction of the Indian Ocean

A rare depiction of the Indian Ocean between Madagascar, Ethiopia, southern Arabia, southern India, and Ceylon.
The calligraphy is florid and decorative.

The engraving of the maps is attributed to Frans Hogenberg. This work comes from the German edition of Giovanni Botero's works, "Theatrum oder Shawspiegel," published in 1596 by Andreas Lambert; that same year, the Latin-text edition was also published. The great rarity of the works of the school of Cologne, together with the paucity of information on these maps, "secret," contributes to the charm of these important works, the cornerstone of any map collection.

Etching with engraving, without signature. The map belongs to the so-called atlases published by the Cartographic School of Cologne. Cologne was the most important center of mapmaking in the 16th century for nearly half a century, mainly because Dutch and Flemish refugees fled religious persecution there.
Among the principal members of the School were Quad Matthaeus, Johannes Metellus, Giovanni Botero, and Frans Hogenberg, its founder. The atlases were often published anonymously or under pseudonyms because of the political and religious turmoil of the era. Jan Matal, or Metellus, was born in Louvain and was active in Cologne, where he took refuge from persecution by the Catholic monarchs and died in 1597. He was one of the era's major cartographers and, with the Quad and Hogenberg, led the Cologne school.

Giovanni Botero (1544 - Turin 1617) was a priest, Italian philosopher, and writer, author of universal relations, who first published a treatise on political geography in Rome in 1591 without cartographic illustrations. The work quickly became essential and was studied throughout Europe, helping to establish the study of demography.
Andreas Lambert (active between 1590 and 1598) was primarily a publisher; however, some maps in his publications are attributed to him, though this is debated. From this point of view, cartographic maps derive from the papers Abraham Ortelius published in Antwerp for the first time in 1570. "

Reference: Meurer, Atlantes Colonienses Die Kolner Schule der Atlas Kartographie 1570 - 1610, pp. 74 / 78.