Islande.

Antique original map of Iceland, engraved by Philippe Vandermaelen and published in Brussels in 1827. The map covers the whole island and identifies towns, villages, glaciers and rivers. Among the localities shown are Reykjavik, the capital, Hafnarfjörður and Akureyri. Mount Hekla, one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes, also appears. The depiction includes the hydrographic network and the main physical features of the island. In the early 19th century, Iceland was a Danish dependency and its cartography aroused interest in Europe owing to its volcanic activity and its position in the North Atlantic. Philippe Vandermaelen was a Belgian cartographer who founded the first geographical establishment in Brussels in 1825 and published, between 1825 and 1827, the Atlas Universel, the first atlas in the world with all its sheets at the same scale. Copper engraving.