CAARTE Van de COLONIE VAN STELLENBOSCH

Peter Kolbe (1675–1726) was an astronomer who visited and worked in the Cape from between 1705 and 1713. His Caput Bonae Spei Hodiernum was published in 1719 in Hamburg. It provided an account of day-to-day life at the Cape; the geography and climate; some flora and fauna and an ethnographic description of the ‘Hottentots’. Reputedly indolent, Kolbe seems to have conducted little astronomical work although he did prove a reasonable accurate estimation of the longitude of the Cape.

After he died, Balthasar Lakeman published the first Dutch translation of Kolbe's book: Naaukeurige en Uitvoerige Beschryving van de Kaap de Goede Hoop; Lakeman  probably commissioned the publication as he was the major subscriber.

This map appeared on page 91 of of the first volume of the book. All the maps in this book draw heavily from the map published in 1726 by François Valentijn, which, in turn, drew heavily from VOC sources; Valentijn had visited the Cape in 1685, 1695, 1705 and 1714. 

This rather distorted map is of the early magisterial district of Stellenbosch that extended to Cape Agulhas; the map's purpose was to illustrate the beginning of the eastward expansion of the Dutch settlement to the Helderberg. Of great historical importance is the naming of many of the early farms and farmers in the region. The Octagon that represents Willem Adriaan van der Stel's Vergelegen is prominent as is the adjacent Compagnie's Bouw Landen, with its associated cultivated land.

Condition: this map is a crisp imprint on good quality, heavy paper and is in fine condition.

Summary: this historic map of the early Stellenbosch district is seldom on the market. The map is in fine condition.