LARACHE MOROCCO 1676 OLFERT DAPPER UNUSUAL ANTIQUE COPPER ENGRAVED CITY VIEW

Description: Striking and highly detailed copper engraved 1676 Olfert Dapper's copper engraved panoramic view of the city of Larache, Morocco,  with its buildings, town walss and surrounding landscape. Several sailing ships adorn the view.

The city is not mentioned in Arabic historical sources until the 13th century. It was founded by the Idrisite Banu 'Arus. Because of the abundant vines in the area, they named it al-'Ara'ish, meaning "trellis of grape vines", or al-'Arīsh mtā' Bnī 'Arūs ("grape vine trellis of the Banu 'Arus") in longer form. The Almohad caliph Ya'qub al-Mansur (r. 1184–1199) built a fortress here in the late 12th century. In 1270, the Spanish led a successful raid on the city.
 
In 1471, the Portuguese settlers from Asilah and Tangier drove the inhabitants out of Larache, and again it remained uninhabited until the Saadi Sultan Mohammed ash-Sheikh decided to repopulate it and build a stronghold on the plateau above river Loukos. He constructed a fortress at the entrance to the port as a means of controlling access to the river.
 
For a long time, attempts by the Portuguese, Spanish and French to take it met with no success. The Portuguese established the nearby Graciosa fortress in 1489. The Kasbah, which was built in 1491 by Moulay en Nasser, later became a pirate stronghold.
 
In 1610, the town passed to the Spanish, who stayed there until 1689, but who mainly used the ports as trading stops and never really administered the town. Moulay Ismail finally conquered Larache in 1689.

This plate was produced by Olfert Dapper and published by in the Dutch edition published in 1676.
 
Source: Olfert Dapper. Naukeurige Bechrijvinge der Afrikarnsche Gewesten van Egypten, Barbaryen, Lybiën, Biledulgerid, Negroslant, Guinea, Ethiopiën, Abyssinië, vertoont in de benamingen Met Lantkaerten en afbeeldingen van steden, drachten, &c. na 't leven getekent, en in kooper gesneden ; getrokken uyt verscheyde hedendaegse lantbeschrijvers en geschriften van bereisde ondersoekers dier Landen door O. Dapper. A Amaterdam: By Jacob con Meurs, M. DC. LXXVI

The "Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche Gewesten", first published in 1668, is an enthographic book which describes Africa. Written by the geographer Olmert Dapper and published by Jacob Van Meurs in two Dutch editions in 1668 and 1676, this work is considered to be one of the foundational works of African studies. Over the course of three years, Dapper consults numerous reports concerning the history and geography of the continent (as it was understood by 17th century Europeans) and travelogues. It is said that Dapper relied heavily on the records of the Dutch West India Company, although none of the original reports have been located by historians. In Description of Africa, per the Fondation Dapper, Dapper, 'far from passing judgement on the societies described and by avoiding ethnocentric connotations, was the first to apply an interdisciplinary approach, adroitly combining geography, economics, politics, medicine, and a study of culture.' Dapper did not write a 'work of exotic curiosities, but a work for posterity.' Description of Africa was published in English by John Ogilby in 1670 and a German translation appeared the following year. A French translation of the work was published in 1686.

Date: 1676 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 43,3 x 35,8

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper.  Sheet with chains. Sheet uncolored. Wide margins. Sheet with foxing and browning. Small tear at the lower side near central folding. Sheet folded. Conditions are as you can see in the images. 

Mapmaker: Olfert Dapper (1636 - December 29, 1689) was a Dutch geographer, polyglot, and historian. Born in Amsterdam, he attended the University of Utrecht, where he was registered as a student in 1658. Two years later he began signing doctor medicinæ, but there in no evidence that he ever received any medical training or education. Dapper published a five-volume book about the history of Amsterdam entitled, Historische Beschrijving der Stadt Amsterdam and in 1665 published a Dutch translation from the Greek of the Histories of Herodotus. His best-known work, Naukeurige Beschrijvingen der Afrikaensche gewesten (Description of Africa), was published in 1668 and subsequently published in English by John Ogilby in 1670 and in French in 1686. Although Dapper never traveled to Africa, he took advantage of numerous reports from adventurers in order to compile this authoritative work over the course of three years.

Publisher: Jacob van Meurs (c. 1620 - 1680) was a Dutch engraver active in Amsterdam during the second half of the 17th century. Van Meurs is best known for his collaboration with Arnoldus Montanus in the publication of numerous engraved maps and views for Montanus' various influential histories and travel narratives. Some of his most important works include a few of the earliest known views of the Americas (including New York City), Japan, and China.