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Copper-engraved map, hand-colored. 34.2x47.5 cm (13½x18¾").

Attractive map covering the Malaysian Peninsula, Indochina, the Philippines, and all of the East Indies as far as New Guinea, thus delineating the important Spice Islands. It is one of two Asian maps that Hondius added to his expanded edition of the Mercator Atlas first published in 1606. Much of the geographical data for this map is based on the portolan charts of the Portuguese cartographer Bartolomeu Lasso and Plancius' important map of the region. There are important new details added on the northern islands of the Philippines and Marianas, and a curious channel bisects the Malaysian Peninsula. The southern coastline of Java is incomplete except for a bay with a note that Sir Francis Drake landed there during his circumnavigation of the globe. This is one of the few maps to show any trace of Francis Drake's explorations in South East Asia. The map is embellished with strapwork cartouches, compass roses, a sea monster, and a sea battle between Dutch and Spanish galleons. French text on verso.