A 17th century map of the early exploration of the Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle, showing European attempts to find the North West and North East Passages. In Arctic America the preponderance of English names shows the importance of the English explorers in the region, trying to circumvent the Spanish control of routes to the East Indies. On Greenland and the entrance to 'M. Forbischers Straet' is marked and in Arctic Russia the names are those given by the Dutch explorers such as Barentz. At the top of the map is a title cartouche depicting wind-heads, the English explorer Henry Hudson with a brazier on his lap. His exploration of Hudson Bay (which he called 'a labyrinth without end') ended in mutiny in 1611: he and loyal companions were forced into a small boat and cast adrift, never to be seen again. It was assumed that they would have turned cannibal to survive, as illustrated by the figure on the left of the cartouche. This is an example of the second state of the map, with the dedication added c.1645. It is a direct copy of Jansson's map, but it is interesting that the engraver copied the Baltic Sea's name but not the coastline!