One of the earliest sea charts to show any part of Australia

A mid-17th century map of the East Indies covering from India to southern Japan. Australia appears, with Carpentaria and Arnhem Land as mapped by the Dutch vessel Duyfken in 1605-06, the first recorded European contacts with Australia. Also marked is the route of Sir Thomas Roe (c.1581-1644) to Agra to take up his post as British ambassador to the emperor Jahangir between 1615-8. At a time that roads were not usually shown on maps, a line of named villages from Surat to Agra, Delhi and Lahore and, through the Khyber Pass to Kandahar in Afghanistan, illustrates his travels. His route was a southern spur of the Silk Road, making this one of the few contemporary maps to include such information.