Relief shown pictorially. North oriented toward left of sheet. Coordinates approximate and based on Greenwich meridian. 2 bar scales on map, given in "Miliaria Germanica" and "Hispanicæ leucæ". Shows topography, vegetation, drainage, coastline, islands, shoals. Compass roses, rhumb lines, decorative cartouches. Figurative illustrations of fauna, ships, sea monsters. Collector's note: One of the most striking and important early maps of China and East Asia, which derives its distinctive visual style from the Portuguese portolan charts it was based on (Schilder). Linschoten acquired most of his information concerning the East during his employment as the secretary to the Portuguese archbishop in Goa, India from 1583 to 1589. Of particular value were the sailing guides he obtained that not only provided the best sailing routes to the East Indies and its lucrative spice trade but also showed the way from port to port once there. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Linschoten published these documents along with his own lively descriptions of the area in the momentously important work, the ltinerario. Few books have had greater influence on events ((Walter). This is arguably the most valuable of Linschoten's charts as it depicts the specific islands which were the sources of the spices that would supply the wealth that underwrote the Dutch Golden Age. The depiction of China here is based on the Portuguese cartographer, Barbuda, who depicts within its interior a network of rivers emanating from several large lakes. Japan appears in a crescent or shrimp shape often seen on Portuguese portolans and on the manuscript maps of Vaz Dourado. The map was engraved by H. F. van Langren, who is sometimes mistakenly given as its author. Although Linschoten's Itinerano was not published until 1596, this map, as Suarez points out, is dated 1595 (within the small cartouche under the mileage scale). Henricus F. ab Langren sculpsit. Dutch title translation.