This week, we are looking at a map of the area south of Petten in the province of Holland (now North-Holland) in 1730. The water board commissioned the map from Jan Spruytenburgh and Hendrik de Leth. The map tells the history of the landscape, and reclaiming the land to create polders. On the left side, we see the smaller polders surrounding by dikes, created in the medieval period. On the right, we see the large polder of the Zijpe, one of the first industrial-scale commercial reclamations, … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Tourist Map of Drenthe, 1933
11 November 2024 by 1 Comment
This week we are looking at a map of Drenthe in 1933. It is a tourist map from Sleeswijk's pocket atlas for the Netherlands for walkers, bicyclists, and automobile drivers, made in 1933. The whole atlas is available at the website of the National Archives in The Hague. The map shows different kinds of connections: Railroads and tram lines in black Main roads in wide solid orange Brick roads in dotted orange Paved roads in narrow solid orange Unpaved roads in dashed orange … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Leeuwarden Ward C, 1843
4 November 2024 by Leave a Comment
This week, we are looking at a ward map for Leeuwarden. The map shows buildings in ward C in 1843, with their house numbers. In many places in the nineteenth century, houses were indicated by their ward letters and house numbers. One ward would consist of several streets, so only one street in the ward would have a house number 1, for example. This makes it very hard to translate old addresses to modern addresses. See tips to find the address. Reseachers with ancestors in Leeuwarden in the … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Ouddorp, 1868
28 October 2024 by Leave a Comment
Between 1865-1868, Jacob Kuyper published a series of atlases with municipal maps. These show the location of all the hamlets, villages, and larger towns in the municipality, as well as the main roads and railroads. The Kuyper maps are often available at the websites of archives or via Wikimedia Commons. This week we are looking at a map of Ouddorp. I know several readers have ancestors from that village, since many people emigrated from Ouddorp in the mid-1800s. The map shows the … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Holland, 1659
21 October 2024 by Leave a Comment
In 1659, the famous mapmaker Joan Blaeu published his world atlas Tooneel des Aardrycks [Display of the Realm of Earth]. The archives in Leiden have made their atlas available online. This week we are looking at his map of the county of Holland. The map shows several lakes have already been turned into polders, such as the Beemster, Purmer, Schermer, and Wormer. The Haarlemmermeer was still a lake. The largest city on the map if Amsterdam, connected to the Zuyder Zee [South Sea, a bay of the … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Connections in Utrecht, circa 1919
14 October 2024 by Leave a Comment
This map, created shortly after the end of World War I, shows the different connections in the province of Utrecht The legend identifies the different types of lines on the map: railroads tramways paved roads gravel roads provincial border dikes hills. The 1800s saw a tremendous increase in infrastructure. This map captures the rail and tram infrastructure at its height. In the course of the 1900s, many rail and tram lines were abolished as cars and transport by road … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Overijssel, 1680
7 October 2024 by Leave a Comment
This map of Overijssel was originally created by Nicolaas ten Have and printed by Frederik de Wit in 1680. Such maps can be useful to understand the location where your ancestor lived. It shows the major roads and rivers. It also shows the jurisdictions, in this case the Land van Vollenhove in blue, Salland in yellow, and Twente in pink. The map shows some local features like noble manors, castles, water mills, and quarries. … [Read more...]
Dutch term – Kerkdienst
4 October 2024 by Leave a Comment
A kerkdienst is a church service. In most places in the Netherlands, churches are no more than 10 km (6 miles) apart, so anyone can walk to church within an hour (two if the roads are muddy). In the image below we see a group of people leaving a church, drawn around 1654. At that time, churches were not heated. We can tell this service took place during the colder months. Several women have their hands in muffs, and some are carrying a little stove which would have held some hot coals to … [Read more...]
Map of the Week – Leiden, 1574
30 September 2024 by Leave a Comment
This week we are looking at a map of Leiden from the atlas Civitates Orbis Terrarum by Braun and Hogenberg. The map dates from 1574, during the Eighty Years' War or the Dutch Revolt, whereby the Netherlands fought for independence from the Habsburg Empire, ruled by King Philip II of Spain. 1574 is a key year in Leiden's history. The city was besieged by Spanish troops for months, but the townsfolk refused to surrender despite food shortages. They managed to get a message out to William … [Read more...]
Map of the week – Waterland, circa 1573
23 September 2024 by Leave a Comment
Around 1573, cartographer Christiaan sGroten created an atlas of the Netherlands and Germany for the King of Spain. At this time, the Netherlands were part of the Habsburg empire, headed by King Philip II of Spain. The Dutch Revolt had started several years earlier and the Spanish king needed maps for strategic purposes and commissioned the atlas. The atlas has been digitized and is available at the Royal Library of Belgium. The map we are looking at this week shows a part of the province of … [Read more...]
