SPILBERGEN, Joris van (1568-1620). Speculum orientalis occidentalisque Indiae navigationum. Leiden, 1619. FIRST EDITION IN LATIN.
Oblong 4to (181 x 238 mm). Large engraved title-vignette, engraved folding world map (Shirley 304) and 24 engraved views, maps and plans, (including 2 folding maps, 2 double-page maps, one folding view and one double-page view). (1/2-in. tear to world map just touching neatline with small repair on verso.) Contemporary Dutch vellum; slipcase.FIRST EDITION IN LATIN, published simultaneously in Leiden in Dutch and Latin to reach the widest possible audience and to fully establish the Dutch East India Company's monopoly on the Straits of Magellan as the passage from Europe to its exclusive trading ports in the East Indies and Pacific. Spilbergen and his flotilla of six Dutch East India Company ships sailed for the Moluccas via the Straits of Magellan in 1614; it was the first attempted circumnavigation of the globe to be carried out with the official support of the Dutch government. Spilbergen's "fleet of six ships was fitted out, armed to combat the Spanish colonies," and they attacked Spanish settlements and shipping along their route (Borba de Moraes p.827). They sailed to Brazil, then through the Straits of Magellan and north along the coast of America as far as California. After sailing east to the Philippines and on to Batavia in search of a Spanish fleet reportedly planning to attack Dutch settlements in the Moluccas, but they never found a fleet. On his arrival at Batavia, Spilbergen encountered Le Maire and Schouten, whose voyage for the newly-formed Compagnie Australe had embarked in 1615, a year after Spilbergen's. Le Maire and Schouten traveled via the newly-discovered Le Maire Strait, but on their arrival at Batavia, they were arrested for breaching the monopoly granted to the Dutch East India Company of the Strait of Magellan. Spilbergen took Le Maire, Schouten, and their crews on board and escorted them back to the Netherlands virtually as prisoners. Le Maire died on the Indian Ocean. Alden & Landis 619/133; Borba de Moraes II:276; Howgego S159; Landwehr (VOC) 361; Sabin 89450.
