Maps and Maps for Days!

National Maritime Museum

 The National Maritime Museum was by far my favorite site to date. In particular, the room of cartography was absolutely spectacular. The cartography room was decked out with maps from throughout history, including a recreated map from the work of Ptolemy. The maps were extremely detailed, colorful, and had pictures and inscriptions in the margins. The collection also included a world atlas comprised of 12 volumes. These volumes were the work of William James Blaeu in the late 16th and early 17th century. He was one of the greatest map makers that worked for the East India Trading Company. I was entirely floored by the fact that he continually updated his maps with information brought back sailors in the company. This made his maps some of the most up to date that were available at the time. This room was my absolute favorite part of the museum. The rest of the museum was equally great and the tour guides were extremely knowledgable and had a great passion for the collection and history.