

First issued by the well-known Dutch publisher of maritime works, Hendrick Doncker (1626 - 99) in 1688, this striking chart was one of many plates acquired by Johannes van Keulen (1654 - 1715), who took over Doncker's store and made it into a workshop. He reissued this chart with various changes (most notably reworking the cartouche of the original into the inset of Boston Harbor). The chart in its new form appeared around 1706.
The inset of Philadelphia is derived from the Dutch edition of Thomas Holme's famous 1683 plan. Its inclusion and the large inset of Boston Bay reminds us that the Dutch were primarily merchants rather than settlers and interested in profit, not Utopias.