Nova descriptio Africae Map

A map created by the Swiss \ German copper engraver and cartographer Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593-1650) for the book Newe Archontologia Cosmica, published in Frankfort in 1635. The map was based on Willem Blaeu's map of Africa done in 1617. Short Biography: Matthäus Merian the Elder was born in 1593 in Basel, Switzerland. He studied copper engraving in Zurich. In 1618 he went to Frankfurt and worked with JT de Bry who's shop he took over in 1623. In this time he started to create large volumes of maps with the pinnacle of his work Topographia Germaniae which consisted of over 2000 maps in 38 volumes on the topography of Germany. Merian passed away in 1650 in Schwalcach.