Category: Geography & Maps, Text, English, Geography, Washington University, Netherlands, Missouri

The Printing House of the Family Blaeu: 17th Century Cartographic Printing from the Netherlands During the seventeenth century the people of the seventeen united provinces of the Netherlands experienced a period of tremendous economic prosperity. As a water-logged society with few land-based natural resources of their own, the Dutch developed into a highly efficient maritime culture that feverishly explored the globe to find goods that were in demand on the continental European market. Along with numerous advances in the fields of science, industry, business, and linguistics, the Dutch also became experts at book and cartographic printing.