A very rare large-scale map of the waters off Singapore. ‘Sinca Pora’ meaning ‘Lion City’ in Sanskrit, has a long history as a harbour. St. Francis Xavier visited here in 1552, one of the most influential early Christians in Asia and in 1534 one of the seven first members of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits. This map is therefore the earliest detailed one of the region to be published. It appeared in the eighth part of Theodore de Bry’s ‘Petit Voyages’ first published in German the previous year, this example is from the only Latin edition of 1607. The ‘Petit Voyage’ was a collection of works devoted to the European voyages to Asia. Part eight recorded five Dutch voyages to the East Indies. Early on the most proven route to the Spice Islands of the East Indies for the Dutch and Portuguese was through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

The map is orientated roughly with the east to the top and extends from ‘Carimon’ (Karimunbesar Island) at the bottom which below records the ‘Straet van Sinca Pora’ to the ‘Rio Batasubar’ (Johor river) at the top. ‘Sinca Pora’ is on the left and the island of Batam on the right. ‘Tanse Pora’ is identified with the region of the city called Tanjong Pagar today near the Chinatown district. Nearby ‘Cust onbekent’ means unknown coast. A very detailed map considering the time at which it was published; Suarez called it ‘sophisticated mapping’.

The most important reason for the map was to depict the naval battle fought between the Portuguese and Dutch between 6 to 11 October 1603 for control of the strategically important strait. On 25 February that year the Johor Sultanate helped the Dutch under Jacob van Heemskerck to capture the ‘Santa Catarina’ and her rich cargo. In retaliation the Portuguese blockaded access to the Johor River. The Dutch sent a fleet to regain control of the region. The cartouche on the left details the individual vessels keyed with letters A to O. Local Johor vessels are also included. The detail even extends to soundings in the strait. The title translates as ‘Chart of a Skirmish between the Dutch and the Portuguese in the Balusabar River’. The whole is beautifully engraved. Provenance: Dieter Duncker 2002; private English collection. Church (1907) 218 pl. XIII; not listed by Garratt (1979); Suarez (1999) fig. 100; Tooley’s Dictionary (1999-2004).