17th Century Map of New Netherland Referencing Wiechquaeskecks in Pelham Region

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Sometime between 1654 and 1658 -- the precise date remains a mystery -- Arnold Colom of Amsterdam published a monumental sea atlas of the world.  Colom's "Zee Atlas" included what is believed to be the earliest Dutch sea chart of the New Netherlands.  Noted map authority Barry Lawrence Ruderman notes that "Jacob Theunisz Lootsman's chart is believed to pre-date it, but seems not to have been regularly published until later."  

Colom was a son of Jacob Colom, an Amsterdam printer, chart-maker, and bookseller.  Arnold Colom's sea chart of New Netherlands is "extremely rare on the market" according to Mr. Ruderman and sold most recently in a Swann Galleries auction on June 2, 2011 for $33,600.  A high resolution image of the map appears immediately below.

Colom, Arnold, “Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt uytgegeven door”

(Amsterdam, ca. 1656) (25.5 x 22 inches; hand-colored).  Source:

Ruderman, Barry Lawrence, Antique Maps Inc., Stock # 46535

(visited 24 Apr 2019).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Arnold Colom's sea chart of New Netherlands is significant for reasons other than its status as the first (or one of the first) such sea charts of the region.  Indeed, it depicts the region including today's Pelham and purports to label Natives in the New Netherland region.  It references "Manhattans," "Wickugick," and -- somewhat distant from Pelham and in the center of Long Island Sound -- "Siwanoys." 

Once again, like so many other 17th century Dutch maps of the region, this map seems merely to copy earlier references to supposed "Siwanoy" Natives in the region and places them distant from today's Pelham.  The map references "Wickugick" Natives (i.e., Wiechquaeskeck" Natives) near Pelham -- a group that, unlike "Siwanoys" is a group of Natives constantly referenced by that name in 17th century documents.

Detail from Colom, Arnold, “Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt

uytgegeven door” (Amsterdam, ca. 1656) (25.5 x 22 inches;

hand-colored).  Source:  Ruderman, Barry Lawrence, Antique

Maps Inc., Stock # 46535 (visited 24 Apr 2019).  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

According to Barry Lawrence Ruderman, owner of Antique Maps Inc., this significant map may be the first sea chart of the New Netherlands (which included the region of today's Pelham).  Mr. Ruderman states, in part:

"Colom's sea chart is a landmark in the mapping of the region, depicting in a large scale the regions extending from the Dutch New Netherlands and New England in the north to South Carolina. 

Called by Koeman "the first sea chart of the New Netherlands," Colom's chart is both highly important and exceptionally rare. Along with Theunis Jacobsz' circa 1650 sea chart of the area from Nova Scotia to the Outer Banks, it is one of the two earliest sea charts showing the significant improvements resulting from the Dutch exploration and occupation of the region. Colom's map, which is the more focused of the two maps and constructed on a much larger scale than the Theunisz, is by far the more accurate of the two charts, drawing on Visscher's highly important Novii Begli, first published circa 1655. Burden observes that the Colom draws information from both Janssonius's Belgii Novi . . . map of 1651 and the first state of Visscher's significantly updated map, noting that: 

"The Delaware Bay and River and much improved . . . as is the area between Chesapeake Bay and the Outer Banks. Curiously two Jamestowns are depicted, one at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. Remnants of [information Burden believes to have been derived from Jacobsz] survives such as the use of Bloemers kil on the west bank of Delaware Bay. There is no recognition of the Dutch victory over the Swedish colonies here. Long Island is one unified island,as Janssonius had depicted it, although like other areas of the map, it shows independent sources. A few English settlements are noted, such as Stamfoort and Nieuwer haven, but none appear in the Connecticut River Valley, only the Dutch fort of De Hoop. One large improvement . . . is the recognition of Boston as one of the three most important towns on that coast. It is not present on the Jacobsz, Janssonius or Visscher maps. 

The dating of the map has always been a mystery. In his monumental catalog of 1887, the legendary Dutch book and map seller, Frederik Muller & Cie, identified the Colom's map had being published in 1640 (item 902), while Stokes in The Iconography of Manhattan Island dated the charts as "before 1653?." Burden identifies 3 states of the map, each of which is extremely rare. Burden describes the map dated 1656 as the first state of the map, with subsequent states lacking the date. The second state includes the page number 13 in the bottom right corner, whereas the third state is number page 13."

Source:  Ruderman, Barry Lawrence, "The First Sea Chart of the New Netherlands" in Antique Maps Inc.:  Colom, Arnold, “Pascaarte van Nieu Nederlandt uytgegeven door” (Amsterdam, ca. 1656) (25.5 x 22 inches; hand-colored; Stock # 46535) (visited 24 Apr 2019).

Today's Historic Pelham article is another in a series intended to analyze 17th century maps that depict the Pelham region.  For examples of earlier such analyses, see:

Tue., Aug. 28, 2018: Seventeenth Century Maps that Depict the Pelham Region.

Thu., Apr. 18, 2019:  More Seventeenth Century Maps that Depict the Pelham Region and Local Native Americans.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.
Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.
Order a Copy of "The Haunted History of Pelham, New York"
Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."