Terra Australis unveiled

Thevenot's map was the first map produced that was devoted entirely to Australia, and shows all of the Dutch discoveries of the Western Australian, North Australian, Tasmanian and a small section of the South Australian coast to the Islands of Saint Francis and Saint Peter (Nuyts Archipelago). 'Land van P. Nuyts' includes the first section of the South Australian coast which was discovered in January 1627. The map also includes the west coast of New Zealand (the two islands shown joined), and the south coast of New Guinea, which appears as if it may be joined to Australia. (Torres' discovery of the strait between Australia and New Guinea was kept secret for many years.) Previous maps that showed the extent of knowledge of Australia's coast had been maps of the world or of the South Asian, East Indies region.

The map is in volume 1 of Relations de divers voyages cvrievx [i.e., curieux], .... by Melchisedech Thevenot, a collection of travels and voyages. It is tipped in between first and second pages of La Terre Australe descouverte par le Capitaine Pelsart ... numbered pp. 50, 51. Note: each section of the volume is separately paged. The map was widely disseminated and copied and was used in 1744 by Emanuel Bowen for John Harris' Navigantium atque itinerarium bibliotheca..., with additional annotations.

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