![]() Europa is depicted in two strikingly different configurations. There are two distinctive sets of allegorical representations of the continents, one occupying the upper corners and a second surrounding the title cartouche at the top center. California is depicted as a large island. The unusual geographic projection emphasizes the fact that the surface of the earth is predominantly water. The design of this map is extraordinary in several respects. Africa, at the lower right, sits on a crocodile and holds a snake in her left hand and a leafy branch in her right recognizable animals include lions, camels, and elephants there are pyramids in the background. At the lower left, America is seated on an armadillo, holding an arrow and a European style battle-ax Indians in the background are hunting and engaging in cannibalism. Asia, at the upper right, is seated on a camel and holds a censer the church and castle in the background are European in style the giraffe and rhinoceros are displaced from their normal habitat. At the upper left, Empress Europa sits on a globe, holding her usual scepter and cornucopia, surveying a coastal scene with offshore fleet, mountain-top castles, various domestic animals, and wild bears. ![]() The background renditions are inaccurate, indicating that the artist was dependent on hearsay and ambiguous reports rather than first-hand observation. The border decorations consist largely of personifications of the continents, set against landscapes depicting their respective terrains, fauna, flora, and scattered inhabitants. This beautifully engraved map appeared in an early Dutch book on navigation to the East and West Indies, and its imagery is a complex mixture of allegory and natural history. In particular, allegorical representation of the continents became a favorite motif for title pages of atlases and borders of maps. Personification of these themes became a common feature of maps and achieved the status of standardized representations. Symbolism related to the number four was a common theme: the four cardinal directions, the four winds, the four seasons, the four classical elements (fire, air, water, and earth), and the four parts of the earth (Europe, Asia, Africa and the Antipodes ~ the latter eventually replaced by America). In common with other forms of art, map imagery is frequently allegorical in nature and rooted in classical sources. Classical writing, scriptural commentaries, and Renaissance art are particularly rich in allegory. It is an effective metaphorical device, and numerous examples of allegorical representation may be found in literature and fine art. An allegory presents one subject in the guise of another, often using symbols or imaginary figures to portray abstract ideas, attributes, emotions, concepts, or parts of the universe.
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