Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619, Map of the Americas - detail, creature off the coast of California. [Probably a diving whale's tail]

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Date:1619

Description:The ocean : a place of danger for Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

Ships returning to England after travel around the world with Francis Drake, or across the Atlantic with Walter Raleigh, brought with them sailors’ tales of monsters and disaster. This map is decorated with strange beasts that might have been inspired by such stories whose true origins would perhaps have been the tail of a diving whale, but which instilled fear and wonder in those who saw it from afar.

Full title: America Map of the Americas, from Gerard Mercator and Jodocus Hondius Atlas, France, 1619.](hand-coloured)


Timeline

The timeline shows resources around this location over a number of years.

1570s
Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg, Londinium, c. 1572  - detail - decorative title panel
Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg, Londinium, c. 1572 - detail - decorative title panel

'Londinium': ancient capital of Shakespeare's England. London had been founded ...

1590s
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597]
John Norden, The View of London Bridge from east to west, [1597]

London Bridge, looking upstream in Shakespeare's time. London's medieval bridge ...

1610s
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619 Map of the Americas - whole map, hand-coloured.
Jodocus Hondius, America, 1619 Map of the Americas - whole map, hand-coloured.

The Americas in the reign of James I, Shakespeare’s patron. Courtiers of ...

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Source: Shakespeare Birthplace Trust - Library

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