1 The Count was an officer in the Dutch army and a cousin of Prince Frederik Hendrik, stadholder (governor) of the Netherlands from 1625–1647, so it is not surprising that he was selected by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) to govern its Brazilian colony. Publications that address the scientific and artistic works produced under his patronage include the essays in van den Boogaart, E. and Duparc, F.J. eds, Zo wijd de wereld strekt (The Hague 1979)Google Scholar, van den Boogaart, E. et al. eds, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen 1604–1679: A Humanist Prince in Europe and Brazil (The Hague 1979)Google Scholar, and de Werd, Guido and Rahier, Robert, Soweit der Erdkreis reicht: Johan Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, 1604–1679 (Cleves 1979)Google Scholar. Unless otherwise indicated, translations are my own. I would like to thank Roelof van Gelder, Ernst van den Boogaart, and Ben Teensma for their comments on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to thank Marten W. Brienen for his assistance with the Portuguese and with Marcgraf's Latin in the Historia. My research has been funded by the Fulbright Foundation, the Kress Foundation, the Friends of the Mauritshuis, and Northwestern University.

2 In fact, Joseph Banks had a copy of the Historia in his library on board the Endeavor. Rüdger Joppien argues that the images by Eckhout and Post form a precedent, but the parallels in scientific work should not be overlooked. See his ‘The Dutch Vision of Brazil. Johan Maurits and his Artists’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 297.

3 These watercolours are bound in two volumes, called Handbooks I and II (A36, A37 in the Libri picturati).

4 Marcgrave, Christian, ‘Vita Georgii Marggravii’, unpaginated text attached behind the preface of his medical work, Prodromus medicinae dogmaticae et verè rationalis (Leiden 1685)Google Scholar. Marcgraf's biography of his brother was reproduced by J.J. Manget in his Bibliotheca scriptorum medicorum (1731) 262–264 and the apothecary James Petiver made a translation of it into English and included it in one of his commonplace books. The latter was discovered and published by P.J.P. Whitehead in ‘The Biography of Georg Marcgraf (1610–1643/1644) by his brother Christian, translated by James Petiver’, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 9/3 (1979) 301–314. All subsequent references mil be to Petiver's translation as reproduced by Whitehead. Also see Whitehead's important essay, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 424–471. Victor Hantsch gives quite a bit of attention to Georg's cartography in his article ‘Georg Marggraf’, Berichte über die Verhandlungen der Saechsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Philologisch-historische Klasse 22 (1896) 199–227. See also E.W. Gudger's highly influential and oft-cited, ‘George Marcgrave, the First Student of American Natural History’, Popular Science Monthly (1912) 250–274. Gudger had the Manget version of Christian's biography, but did not know that it was written by Georg's brother. Th.J. Meijer's ‘De omstreden nalatenschap van een avontuurlijk geleerde’, Jaarboek voor geschiedenis en oudheidkunde van Leiden en omstreken (1972) 63–76, gives an excellent overview of Marcgraf's life, but pays special attention to the controversy over Georg Marcgraf's sea chest, the contents of which Christian tried to reclaim around 1655.

5 According to Christian, his grandfather and father taught Georg Latin and Greek (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 307). For information on his father's profession, see Hantsch, ‘Georg Marggraf’, 201, note 4. Hantsch consulted the parish register of Liebstadt. Elisabeth and Georg were married on 27 November 1609. See Zaunick, V., ‘Zum Leben Georg Marcgraves (1610–1644)’ in: Neuen Archiven Sächsische Geschichte Altertumshunde 37/1–2 (1916) 143–146Google Scholar, as cited by Stücken, Christian, ‘Leben und Werk des Georg Marcgraf’, Kleine Beiträge zur europäischen Überseegeschichte 17 (1992) 5–35, 10.Google Scholar

6 Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 63. C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 307).

7 Both Hantsch (‘Georg Marggraf’, 201) and Meijer (‘omstreden. nalatenschap’, 63) claim that Marcgraf followed a formal study of zoology, but there is simply no evidence for this. However, Marcgraf was clearly familiar with current zoological practice and the most influential works of the period, which he occasionally cites in the Historia.

8 Many young German men came to the Netherlands and entered in the service of the Dutch East India and Dutch West India companies. See van Gelder, Roelof's Het Oost-Indisch avontuur: Duilsers in dienst van de VOC (Nijmegen 1997).Google Scholar

9 Leiden University Library, ASF 9, as cited by Meijer, 63 (note 3).

10 Gudger, 251. According to Meijer (‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 63), this was the first university observatory in Europe. It was built in 1633.

11 Gool also taught him Arabic; after his death a manuscript in Arabic was found among Marcgraf's possessions.

12 Francisco Guerra, ‘Medicine in Dutch Brazil’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 484. Johan Maurits's first physician, Dr Wilhelm van Milaenen, died shortly after arrival in the colony. For a complete discussion of Piso and his medical contributions, see Pies, Eike, Willem Piso (1611–1678): Begründer der kolonialen Medizin und Leibartz des Grafenjohann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen in Brasilien (Düsseldorf 1981).Google Scholar

13 See the special volume on Johannes de Laet of LIAS (sources and documents relating to the early modern history of ideas) 25 (1998). Among the essays included here are Benjamin Schmidt's ‘Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the Advancement of Geographic Learning’, 177–199; Rolf H. Bremmer Jr's ‘The Correspondence of Johannes de Laet (1581–1649) as a Mirror of his Life’, 139–164; and Paul G. Hoftijzer's ‘The Library of Johannes de Laet (1581–1649)’, 177–200.

14 Vorstius's private tour of Johan Maurits's Brazilian collection in the Mauritshuis, the Count's Dutch palace, in 1644 indicates a close relationship between the two men. See his letter to Constantijn Huyghens, 20 December 1644. Reproduced in J.A. Worp ed., Debriefwisseling van Constantijn Huygens, (1608–1687) IV (1644–1917) (The Hague 1911–1917) 106–108.

15 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308). Gudger, working from Manget's Latin, gives a slightly more modern translation of this sentence: ‘He burned with great desire to study the southern stars, Mercury especially, and he saw the great (unworked) field of natural history and the harvest of no small praise to be gained (from it) in America’ (252).

16 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308). However, at the end of a booklet containing his observations made in Leiden, Georg writes that he left Leiden on 18 November 1637. See ‘Astronomische aanteekeningen van Georg Marcgrafe de Liebstadt’ (Astronomical notes of Georg Marcgrafe of Liebstadt), Gemeente Archief, Leiden, 7001/1, doc. 52 (hereafter ‘Astronomical notes’, GA Leiden). In the late 1970s J.D. North sorted through this set of documents, organising them and hand-numbering them in pencil. His article, ‘Georg Markgraf: An Astronomer in the New World’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen is the best treatment of this subject. Historians have assumed a waiting period of six weeks in Amsterdam before the boat set sail for Brazil. Such periods of waiting were not unusual, because ships needed to be filled with supplies and personnel had to be brought by boat from Amsterdam to Texel. After preparations were complete, one had to wait for a favourable wind, a process that could take weeks. Texel was the usual point of departure for voyages to the East and West Indies for ships from Amsterdam, Hoorn, and Enkhuizen. I would like to thank Roelof van Gelder for clarifying this point for me.

17 As such, the diaries fit into the category of ‘reisdagboeken’ (travel diaries) as described by Roelof van Gelder in his discussion of the German tradition of autobiographical writing in the early modern period. Here he concerns himself with accounts written by Germans who had been employees of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). See Het Oost-Indisch avontuur, 78–82.

18 Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 302.

19 Historia, Preface to the medical section. See Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 313, note 27.

20 ‘Markgraef de drie laeste jaren niet meer mijn domestique was, maer bij sijn Vorst’. (Letter from Willem Piso to Jacob Gool, 15 May 1655, Leiden University Library (hereafter UB Leiden), ASF 290.) This letter has been transcribed in full by Meijer (‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 68–69) and reproduced in semi-legible facsimile by Pies (158).

21 According to Meijer, these diaries were handed over to Christian by Gool (66); however, Meijer also asserts that these diaries started in 1627, a date that is at odds with the 1637 given by Christian (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309).

22 See Meijer for the best analysis of Christian's attempts to claim the contents of his brother's sea chest. For all of his trouble, Christian received only the first volume of Georg's diary from Vorstius.

23 Johan Maurits to the Trustees of Leiden University, (February 1655), Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 67.

24 In addition to the letter of 15 May 1655 (UB Leiden, ASF 290), Piso also wrote to Gool on 12 May 1655 (UB Leiden, ASF 290). He makes his nastiest attacks on Christian in this letter.

25 ‘na mijn beste onthout, behalven sijn armlijk linden en wolle, wat students schriften gesien hebbe, een gestreept zeepaerts veil, wat out saet van Brasilse gewassen, ook gedroogde kruijden, en gedroogte ongedierties’ (Piso to Gool, 15 May 1655, UB Leiden, ASF 290).

26 ‘eenighe Schriften ende Observatien…neffens weijnich boecken, ende eenighe curiositeiten van Brasil, te weten, eenighe Vellen, Hoorens ende gebeenten van sommige Gedierten, ende eenighe Gewassen van Planten, haere Vruchten ende diergelijcken…’ (Johan Maurits to the Trustees of Leiden University, The Hague, 19 March 1655, UB Leiden, ASF 18–20, as cited by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 70).

27 In Piso's defence it must be added that he made important contributions to tropical medicine and the study of South American plants. See the biography by Pies (note 12).

28 As Whitehead has stated, ‘night after night […] Markgraf was peering through his telescope, reading off divisions of less than a millimetre on his ruled scale, and meticulously noting his result […] he cannot have been anything but sober the night before’ (‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 425).

29 ‘Als ik hem plagt te raden dat hij de gunst die ik hem had doen becomen bij sijn vorst. Gh. wat mesnageren soude, en sijn gelt in so kostelijken land te raden houden, gaf tot antwoort altijt, dat hij op geen gelt paste, en niet estimeerde als sijne Astrologie en natuurlijke observatien waer te nemen…’ (Piso to Gool, Leiden, 15 May 1655, UB Leiden, ASF 290, as transcribed by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 69).

30 Johan Maurits confirms Piso's accusation about Georg's financial situation in a letter to the university dated 19 March 1655, saying that Georg never had any money (‘altijts blot van Gelt is geweest’) as cited by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 71. See Johan Maurits to. the Trustees of Leiden University, The Hague, 19 March 1655, UB Leiden, ASF 18–20. However, Christian cites a letter from Piso's brother saying that Georg had made a fortune in Dutch Brazil, which only serves to deepen the confusion about Georg's financial status, although this later scenario seems highly unlikely.

31 ‘De boeken en oude vellen en doosies met wat out saet, die hij alleen maer in sijn kist, waren geen gelt waerd’ (Letter from Piso to Gool, Leiden, 12 May 1655, UB Leiden, ASF 290, as transcribed by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 66). Natural history specimens in the Netherlands were in demand by apothecaries, botanical gardens, and private collectors of rarities. See the essays in De wereld binnen handbereik: Nederlandse kunst- en raritietenvenamelingen, 1585–1735 (Zwolle 1992).

32 In his description of the interior of the Palace Noordeinde, J. Hennin mentions seven closed white boxes containing ‘different kinds of flying, creeping, jumping underground and other bloodless little animals’ (Beziet daar in de zeven geslotte witte doozen/noch zeven grooter wonder werken des Heeren onzes Godts…Beziet dat is een cex/ of zecta van veelderhande zoorte van vliegende/kruipende/springende onderaartze/ en andere bloedloze dierkens en geweemelte.) Hennin, J., De zijnrijke gedachten toegepast op de vijf sinnen, van 's menschen verstand (Amsterdam 1681) 95.Google Scholar

33 Christian mentions that his friend Samuel Kechelius saw Georg's book of dried insects, presumably originally kept in his sea chest, sold at the auction. Allowing for exaggeration, even a tenth of this amount was a considerable sum of money. See C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 11).

34 See Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 65. As Meijer makes clear, in his attempts to claim his inheritance, Christian made enemies of those in power at the university.

35 According to Christian Marcgraf, Piso was the subject of much criticism for his new edition of the Historia, primarily because of the changes he made to Marcgraf's section of the book, which demonstrate his lack of knowledge about the material. Early modern as well as contemporary natural historians agree with the criticism. According to Whitehead and Boeseman, in his personal copy of the De Indiae utriusque (1658), the wellknown eighteenth-century natural historian Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) made a handwritten comment on the ‘Horrenda nequila Pisonis’ (wretched laziness of Piso). See their important book, A Portrait of Dutch 17th century Brazil: Animals, Plants and People by the Artists ofjohan Maurits of Nassau (Amsterdam 1989) 30.

36 De Laet was eventually able to break the code. It has been suggested that Georg gave Johan Maurits the key to the code for safe-keeping, who in turn would have given it to De Laet.

37 Francisco Guerra, ‘Medicine in Dutch Brazil, 1624–1654’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 484.

38 Gralitz, who was also a German, first registered as a student in the medical school at Leiden University in 1632, when he was twenty-five years old. See Stokvis, B.J., La médecine colonials el les médecins hollandaise du 17e siècle, Discours d'Ouverture du Congres International de Médecins des Colonies (Amsterdam 1883) 29, note 37.Google Scholar

39 These studies were commissioned by Johan Maurits, who furthermore underwrote the publication of the Historia in 1648.

40 Letter dated 15 May 1638, GA Leiden (now lost). His 1640 Letter to De Laet was also written in Portuguese as well as Latin.

41 Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 453.

42 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308). Although military engineering is not something historians usually associate with Marcgraf, Christian is quite emphatic on this point. The title of his biography (as translated by Petiver) reads: ‘The life of George Marcgraf Mathematician & Noble Physician & formerly Geographer and Military Engineer to his Highness Johan Maurice Prince of Nassau, moreover a famous Astronomer of y^e Society in Brasil’ (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 307.)

43 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, doc. 70.

44 North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 403. However, this drawing is the only evidence that has been put forth to support this theory. Wagener called this manuscript his. Thierbuch, and it includes copies of images by Marcgraf and Eckhout as well as original drawings; the image North refers to is plate 107. A new facsimile edition of the Thierbuch has been published as Dutch Brazil II The ‘Thierbuch’ and ‘Autobiography’ of Zacharias Wagener (Rio dejanerio 1997). The images are reproduced in colour, with an English translation of the original German and an illegible reproduction of Wagener's original German script. All subsequent references will be to this edition.

45 Although C. Marcgraf does not state when his brother was first given free board, it must have occurred in either 1639 or 1640, because the diaries after this period were not in his possession. See also the documents of the Algemeen Rijksarchief (General State Archives, hereafter ARA), Oude West Indische Compagnie (hereafter OWIC), The Hague, ‘Brieven en Papieren’, 58, unpaginated. Reproduced as ‘Hofhouding van Johan Maurits Graaf v. Nassau in Brazilie’, De Navorscher (1898) 557–561. Piso is also listed with his ‘jongens’, and it seems clear from the arrangement that the doctor has a slightly higher status than Marcgraf, who is listed as the ‘cartemaecker’ (mapmaker) for the meals. Unlike Marcgraf, for one of his meals (lunch), Piso ate at the Count's table.

46 All subsequent references will be to the Dutch translation, Naber, S.P. L'Honore [transl. and ed.], Nederlandsch Brasilie onder het bewind van Johan Maurits Grave van Nassau, 1637–1644 (The Hague 1923).Google Scholar

47 ‘Ten gerieve van dezulken die studie maken van de wetten der hemelverschijnselen en van de onveranderlijke wisselingen der planeten voeg ik de projectie van deze eclips hierbij zooals zij van oogenblik tot oogenblik veranderde, gelijk zij met astrologische nauwgezetheid is geteekend door den zeer ervaren wiskunstenaar George Marcgraf die den Graaf in de nieuwe wereld door deze studien bijstond’ (Barlaeus, Nederlandsch Brasilie, 259).

48 ‘mynen, in Angola overledenen Mathematicus, Marggravius genoemt’ (as cited by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 66–67). Meijer reproduces part of this letter, but does not give the current location of the original. P.C. Molhuysen mentions the content of the letter, but states that it is missing. See his Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit III (8 Feb. 1647–18 Feb. 1682) (The Hague 1918) 107–108.

49 The celebrated Danish astronomer Brahe found his patrons among Danish royalty and later was called upon by Rudolf II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, whose primary court was in Prague. For a recent biography, see Thoren, Victor E., The Lord of Uraniborg: A Biography of Tycho Brahe (Cambridge 1990)Google Scholar. Rudolf II was an active patron of the arts and sciences and was the model to which all princely collectors in Europe aspired during the early modern period. Discussion of Rudolf II's artistic and scientific patronage can be found in a number of publications, including: Evans, W., Rudolf II and his World: A Study in Intellectual History 1576–1612 (Oxford 1973)Google Scholar, Fuckkovi, Eliska ed., Pragum 1600: Kunst und Kultur am Hofe Kaiser Rudolfs II I-II (Vienna 1988)Google Scholar, and idem, Rudolf II and Prague: The Imperial Court and Residential City as the Cultural and Spiritual Heart of Central Europe (Prague 1997).

50 North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, especially 408–419.

51 M.E.H.N. Mout, ‘The Youth of Johan Maurits and Aristocratic Culture in the Early Seventeenth Century’, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 25.

52 For a discussion of their relationship, see Thoren, 93–96; 344–345. On the Hessian Kunstkammer, see Dreier, Franz Adrian, ‘The Kunstkammer of the Hessian Landgraves in Kassel’, The Origins of Museums: The Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe (Oxford 1985) 102–114.Google Scholar

53 Hantsch asserts Marcgraf's central role in setting up these gardens, but he does not provide any evidence (210).

54 Christian calls it Georg's ‘shop of medicines [where he] practises Physick’ (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308).

55 These volumes have been reproduced in a facsimile edition: Ferrao, C. and Soares, J.P.M. eds, Brasil-Holandês /Dutch Brazil I-V (Rio de Janeiro 1995).Google Scholar

56 Moran, Bruce T., ‘German Prince-Practitioners: Aspects in the Development of Courtly Science, Technology, and Procedures in the Renaissance’ in: Moran, B. ed., Patronage and Institutions: Science, Technology, and Medicine at the European Court 1500–1750 (Rochester 1991) 253–274Google Scholar. Also see Paula Findlen's discussion of aristocratic patronage of science in her book Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (Berkeley, CA 1994). The Handbooks can be seen in the tradition of Rudolf II's Museum, a visual record of the animals, live and dead, and natural history objects in his collection. See Lee Hendrix, ‘Natural History Illustration at the Court of Rudolf II’, Rudolf II and Prague, 157–171.

57 Hantsch, ‘Georg Marggraf’, 205. (During this expedition he not only made countless astronomical observations, but also made sketches for maps, shot rare animals, collected insects and plants, and observed the native peoples surrounding him, recording everything that he considered interesting on small pieces of paper.)

58 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309).

59 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309). This journey in December is probably also the one mentioned in ARA-OWIC 68, ‘Minutes of the Political Council’, 22 December 1640. Here it makes mention of an expedition to the interior, although Marcgraf's name is not mentioned.

60 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308).

61 Quick sketches in watercolour or pencil were a common way of gathering information about plants and animals; there are still extant sketches by Conrad Gesner (1516–1565), compiler of a number of well-known zoological and medicinal texts from the sixteenth century. See, for example, his Hisloria animalium (1551).

62 See Pratt, Mary Louise, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (New York 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The connections that Mary Louise Pratt makes regarding imperial aims and natural history in eighteenth-century travel writing are certainly applicable to the larger project of exploring and describing Dutch Brazil under Johan Mauri ts in the seventeenth century. As she argues, there was a ‘mutual engagement between natural history and European economic and political expansionism’ (38). ‘[N]atural history provided the means for narrating inland travel and exploration aimed not at the discovery of trade routes, but at territorial surveillance, appropriation or resources, and administrative control’ (39).

63 See KHA A4 (Johan Maurits Archive), volume 1454, 198–199. Comparison with samples of Marcgraf's handwriting suggests that this is not an autograph text. I first came across this document in 1997, but I did not realise the connection with Marcgraf until 2000. Historian Ernst van den Boogaart and I are currently preparing a full transcription, English translation, and analysis of this document for publication (see note 68). I would like to thank Dr B. Teensma, who checked over our transcription and answered questions about the original report, which includes a number of words borrowed from Portuguese. In addition to his important astronomical notes in the Leiden Gemeente Archief, this is one of the few extant documents composed by Marcgraf. Parts of his four lost letters (formerly GA Leiden) are reproduced by Schneider, A.'s in ‘Die Vogelbilder zur Historia naturalis Braziliae des Georg Macgrave’, Journal für Ornithobgie Leipzig 86 (1938) 174–106Google Scholar. For part of the letter to De Laet, see Stokvis, La medecine coloniale, 28, note 37.

64 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309).

65 ‘250 Brazilians, 150 wild Tapuyas, and 15 whites, to wage war against the wild Tapuyas’.

66 On July 4th, they caught ‘[e]en vis soo groot dat see mit 15 man haer beecomsten daeraeen aetten en noch vis overschoot’.

67 For example, the writer (Marcgraf) writes mit (German) not met (Dutch) for the word ‘with’.

68 This is probably a copy of part of Marcgraf's original diary; how it came to be included with Johan Maurits's personal papers is unknown, although it may have been attached to a report on the expedition. See Ernst van den Boogaart and Rebecca Parker Brienen, ‘A Naturalist Joins the Slave Hunters: Georg Marcgraf's First Journey into the Brazilian Interior, June-August 1639’, forthcoming. This article gives an in-depth analysis of this document, attributing it to Marcgraf and examining the expedition in the context of the European colonisation of Brazil in the seventeenth century.

69 Boxer, C.R., The Dutch in Brazil, 1624–1664 (Oxford 1957) 85.Google Scholar

70 Hantsch, ‘Georg Marggraf’, 211. He also attributes the plan of this castle, included in Barlaeus, to Marcgraf.

71 These suggested identifications are based on consultation of Marcgraf's section of the Historia, De Laet's Nieuwe Werelt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-indien (Leiden 1625), and the descriptions of Brazilian animals composed by Johan Maurits for the Handbooks and by Wagener for his Thierbuch. The English translation of Johan Maurits's description is taken from Brasil-Holandes (see note 55). Wagener states that the coati, a raccoon-like South American rodent, looks ‘just like a small fox’ (The ‘Thierbuch’, 120). Similarly, De Laet states that the ‘Couaty is gelijc onse vossen’ (coati is the same as our foxes, 449) and Marcgraf says that the ‘Coati Brasilienibus, estvulpes, magnitudine felis’ (Brazilian coati is a fox the size of a cat/weasel), Historia, 228). Johan Maurits describes the aperea (a guinea-pig like South American rodent) as ‘An animal that lives beneath the ground and is slightly bigger than a rat. Good eating’ (Brasil-Holandês II, 36). In his discussion of ‘Tai-ibi Brasiliensibus’ (a Brazilian opossum), Marcgraf states that in Flemish it is called ‘Boschratte’ (field rat). But under his description for the aperea he notes that it is also called ‘een veldratte vel Boschratte’ (a field rat or forest rat) (Historia, 222–223). At this point, tatu was already recognised and used as another name for armadillo. Johan Maurits describes an immature jaguar as a ‘young tiger’ (Brasil-Holandes III, 37.)

72 The manuscript for the Historia was probably written in Mauritsstad, although the notes for it were certainly compiled on journeys like this one.

73 As cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 407. This comment is present in a copy of Georg Marcgraf's astronomical observations, as consulted by North, and cannot be found in the manuscripts preserved in the GA Leiden. It is present in the collection of the Observatoire de Paris, A.B. 4.5, which includes copies of Marcgraf's original astronomical annotations, which are more complete than the originals in Leiden.

74 ARA-OWIC 69, ‘Minutes of the Political Council’, 16 July 1641 (Ontdeckinge vande rivier van Saö Francisco belast te doen) and 21 September 1641 (Uijt Rio Saö Francisco over de ontdeckingen vanden Westlijcke contreijen). I would like to thank Drs B. Thijs for helping me make a transcription of these documents. See also K. Zandvliet, ‘Johan Maurits and the Cartography of Dutch Brazil, Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen, 504, note 30. Zandvliet mentions other exploratory expeditions that also took place in 1641 but did not involve Marcgraf (504).

75 ARA-OWIC 69. B. Teensma has suggested that the search for gold and silver is the reason the WIC was so interested in mapping this area. He called my attention to the comments made by Christoffel Arciszewski, a commander in the WIC in Brazil, about the river São Francisco and interior, as cited by José Antonio Gonsalves de Mello in Tempo dos Flamengos. Influência da ocupação holandesa na vida e na cultura o none do Brasil [3rd ed.] (Recife 1987) 131, note 7. Here de Mello discusses a map of ‘Christoffel d'Artichiau’, dated 4 November 1635 and sent to the Directors of the WIC in the Netherlands. Here Arciszewski gives a number of reasons for the importance of the river, writing: ‘que o rio Sāo Francisco provém de certo lago chamado Lacus Ouluis [which Teensma believes is a corruption of ‘Lacus Aureus’ or golden lake], nos montes do Peru, em cujo lago há muito ouro…e nele crêse que tern origem também o rio da Prata e o Grão Pará ou Orenoco, de modo que pelo rio Sãn Francisco não somente se pode alcançar o Potosi mas toda a América.’ This document is most likely among the papers of the OWIC at the ARA in The Hague, although de Mello does not record its location.

76 ARA-OWIC, 69 ‘Minutes of the Political Council’, 27 November 1641 (Caerte ran Machioppe doen maecken). See also Zandvliet, 504. The suggestion that Machioppe refers to Mackaowa was made by B. Teensma.

77 This is demonstrated by the 1643 list of those receiving free board at the Count's court (mentioned above). Only on the first page is Marcgraf mentioned by name; in all subsequent references he is simply the ‘cartographer’. This is the same for others, including Piso, Eckhout, and Post, who are referred to, respectively, as doctor and painters, for the rest of the document. As Zandvliet has suggested, it is unlikely that Marcgraf was the only cartographer present in Dutch Brazil during Johan Maurits's governorship.

78 Hantsch, ‘Georg Marggraf’, 205–206. Hantsch mentions that mapping Maranhão was part of an expedition devoted to making a map of Brazil between 2 degrees 40’. Given the specificity of his information, it is probable that he consulted archival sources. However, he does not cite them, which has made it impossible to check his claims.

79 Barlaeus, Nederlandsch Brasilie, 31.

80 ‘Hij [Johan Maurits] heeft, met groote zorg en op zijn eigen kosten, landkaarten doen graveeren waarop met wonderbaarlijke nauwkeurigheid staan aangeteekend: de steden, dorpen, forten, veekralen, poelen, bronnen, voorgebergten, reeden, stroomen, havens, riffen, suikermolens, kerken, kloosters, aanplantingen, grenslijnen, lengten, breedsten enz., uitgevoerd door George Marcgraf, een uitstekend aardrijks- en sterrekundige, die, toen hij hetzelfde in Afrika op zich zou nemen, aldaar door het noodlot is opgeëischt’ (Barlaeus, Nederlandsch Brasilie, 416).

81 Zandvliet, 497. For a fragment of Marcgraf's original, hand-drawn map, see (VEL 695) ARA, The Hague.

82 There is a fragment of one of the original wall maps in the collection of the Leiden University Library (Dousazaal). See the Bodel Nijenhuis collection, 219, n. 60.

83 Given Post's other topographical works, this is not an unreasonable assertion. Larsen believes that Post left for the Netherlands before Johan Maurits and travelled to Africa, allowing him to make representations of Sāo Thome and Luanda, among other places. See Larsen, E., Frans Post Interprète du Brésil (Amsterdam 1962) 100–101Google Scholar. Sousa-Leāo also argues that Post went to Africa and furthermore ‘undoubtedly accompanied the Governor on his military campaigns’. He bases these claims solely on the images by Post reproduced in Barlaeus. See de Sousa-Leāo, Joaquim, Frans Post 1612–1680 (Amsterdam 1973) 16–17Google Scholar. Of course, Post could have copied these views from the work of another artist, a possibility acknowledged but rejected by these scholars but accepted by others.

84 See North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 404, note 51.

85 As in note 128.

86 ‘Het land voedt eigen soorten van viervoetig gedierte, van slangen, vogels, visschen, boomen en planten in wonderbare verscheidenheid die aan de natuurbeschrijvers stof leveren tot een aangename uiteenzetting’ (Barlaeus, 30). ‘Ook bij deze studien [astronomy, geography] heeft hij die naarstigheid betoond waarmede hij dieren van velerlei aard, de wonderlijke gedaanten van zoogdieren, vogels, visschen, kruiden, kruipend gedierte, insecten en de afwijkende vormen van kleeden en wapentuig der volken kunstiglijk heeft laten uitschilderen, welk gezamenlijk, naar wij met stelligheid verwachten, binnenkort het licht zullen zien met bijbehoorende beschrijvingen’ [i.e., with the publication of the Historia] (Barlaeus, 416–417).

87 Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 445.

88 Ashworth, William B. Jr, ‘Remarkable Humans and Singular Beasts’, The Age of the Marvelous (Hanover 1991) 137–138.Google Scholar

89 Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 443.

90 Ashworth, , ‘Natural History and the Emblematic World View’ in: Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution (Cambridge 1990) 303–332.Google Scholar

91 Ashworth, ‘Natural History’, 313.

92 His references to other works are few and are limited to the first edition of Gesner's Historia animalium (1558), Carolus Clusius's Curae posteriores (1611) or Exoticorum libridecem (1605), Scaliger's Aristotlies historia de animalibus (1619), Ximénes's Spanish translation of Hernández's work on the natural history of Mexico, and Pliny's Natural History. De Laet sent Marcgraf descriptions from Ximénes (see De Laet's Preface), which Marcgraf occasionally refers to in his descriptions, such as that for the iguana (Historia, 237). On the sample title sheet for the Historia in the Leiden astronomical notes, Marcgraf notes Pliny's name. See also Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 433–434, 439, and 442 (notes 101 and 104).

93 Ashworth, ‘Natural History’, 318.

94 Other early European observers in Brazil, such as André Thevet, relate fabulous stories about animals and people, including the Amazons. Even Jean de Léry, praised as the best early observer in Brazil, claims that marmosets are ‘so proud and touchy that for the slightest offense… [they let themselves] die of chagrin’. See de Léry, Jean, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil [trans. Whatley, J.] (Berkeley, CA 1990) 84.Google Scholar

95 Historia, 221.

96 Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 440.

97 As translated by Erwin Stresemann in his Ornithology: From Aristotle to the Present [trans. Hans J. and Cathleen Epstein] (Cambridge 1975) 34. Gudger also gives English translations of Marcgraf's descriptions of a ray (Marina pastinaca) and a ‘toadfish’ (263, 264).

98 Lichtenstein, M.H.K., ‘Die werke von Marcgraf und Piso über die Naturgeschichte Brasiliens, erläutert aus den wieder aufgefundenen Originalzeichnungen’, Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Akademie der Wissenschaften Berlin I (Berlin 1814–1815) 201–222Google Scholar. This was followed by his articles in the same journal on the images of birds (II, 1819) 155–178; amphibians (III, 1822) 237–254; fish (IV, 1822) 267–288 and (IV cont., 1826) 49–65.

99 Lichtenstein (1814–1815), 203.

100 Hantsch, ‘Georg Marggraf’, 206. (For every natural object that he came across, he not only described it on a piece of paper, but also made a drawing, using watercolours to capture, as close as possible, its true colour.)

101 Letter from Johan Maurits to the French secretary of state, Marquis de Pomponne, 21 December 1678 (KHA), reproduced by Thomas Thomsen, Albert Eckhout, ein niederländischer Maler und sein Gönnerjohan Moritz der Brasilianer, ein Kulturbild aus dem, 17. Jahrhundert (Copenhagen 1938) 135. Also reproduced by Larsen, 254, doc. 52. Scholars have named Post, Eckhout, their assistants, Georg Marcgraf, and possibly Zacharias Wagener to this group.

102 See Whitehead, , ‘The Treasures at Grüssau’, New Scientist 94 (1982) 226–231Google Scholar and ‘The Original Drawings for the Historia naturalis Brasiliaeof Piso and Marcgraf (1648)’, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 7 (1976) 409–422, for an introduction to the complicated history of this collection. See note 55.

103 Lichtenstein (1814–1815), 207.

104 Natural historian Marc. E. Bloch (1723–1799) favoured Johan Maurits. See his Nalurgeschichte der ausländische Fische (Berlin 1787). Gudger argues for Marcgraf, but also suggests that Johan Maurits may have contributed drawings as well (271–272). In 1938 Thomas Thomsen thought that Wagener's ‘manner’ could be recognised in images like the parrot in Handbook 1 (f. 216). Hugh Honour has no trouble attributing the watercolours to Marcgraf. See his New Golden World: European Images of America from the Discoveries to the Present Times (New York 1975) 50.

105 He does not give titles to those animals that are not native to Brazil, such as all of the imports from Africa. This assertion is based on a comparison of the handwriting preserved in the astronomical notes in the GA Leiden and that written above the animals in the Handbooks.

106 He introduced some new material and rearranged the text, not following Marcgraf's chapter order as written down in a draft tide page, now in the Gemeente Archief, Leiden. Marcgraf's original order for die text is as follows: I: Chorography of Brazil, II: Animals, III: Birds, IV: Fish, V: Insects.

107 ‘Ad Benevolos Lectores’, Historia, unpaginated.

108 ‘Ioanni Mauritio, Nassauiae Comiti, terrae et oceani Brasiliensis summo praefecto, quae suis per Brasiliam peregrinationibus indefesso studio inquisiuit, accurate descripsit, et quorum icones ad vivum ipse fecit, nomina apud incolas investigavit, et quaedam convenientia imposuit, facultates, quantum fieri potuit, indagauit, et in hanc historiam, in omnium naturalis scientiae studiosorum et admiratorum usum digessit, in debitam beneficiorum maximorum ab ipso acceptorum agnitionen et gratiarum actionem devote offert et dedical Georgius Marcgravius, de Liebstad, misnicus Germanus’ (Historia, unpaginated dedicadon). The translation into English is from Gudger, 260.

109 Under ‘Summaria librorum sequentium’, it states: ‘Denique in octo hisce Libris stint Icones quadringentae & viginti noven, maximam partem ab Auctore ipso accurate delineatae’ (Historia, unpaginated). The translation into English is from Gudger, 261.

110 ‘Icon per megascopium fuit delineata’, Historia, 257. The original drawing has not survived.

111 Piso (1658), 154, as cited by Whitehead and Boeseman, A Portrait of Dutch Brazil, 30.

112 ‘O grande favour de V.S. paracon mi muytas vezes amostrado nas cartas enviadas ao Illmo. C. Mauricio Nassovio e tamben ao senhor Piso amostrami mandar esto papel…Pelo presente timos trezentas mair cincoenta e porro mair prantas com as littras e o pincil diligentimente debuxadas. Timos tamben muitas animaes, passers, peixes e outros animaes sem sangui, osquaes insecta chamamos. Cada dia accreintaso o numero para a obra de senh. Osio e diligenza de mi mismo’, as cited by Stokvis, La medecine coloniale, 28, note 37.

113 Letter of 19 March 1655, Leiden University Library (ASF 18–20), as cited by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 70. Meijer reproduces the entire letter (70–71).

114 I have not included multiple representations of the same animal (as with the armadillos and the sloths) but I have counted representations of male and female birds of the same species. This explains why I count eighty-seven birds whereas Whitehead and Boeseman counted eighty-five.

115 This type of foot also appears on Marcgraf's image of the lesser anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla) (f. 62, ‘Tamanduai’ [22], 19 cm) and on his two representations of coati (f. 38 [15], 13 cm and f. 100 [31], 15 cm).

116 See Empire's Nature: Mark Catesby's New World Vision (Chapel Hill 1998).

117 Horses are not indigenous to Brazil; they were introduced by the Portuguese. Regarding the deer, Johan Maurits states ‘I sent live specimens to His Majesty, but they died of cold’. Quoted from Brasil-Holandes I, 33, with some adjustments to the English.

118 See Barlaeus, Wagener, and Frei Manuel Calado. Calado, a Portuguese friar in Dutch Brazil, states that Johan Maurits ‘brought thither every kind of bird and animal that he could find, and since the local moradores [settlers] knew his taste and inclination, each one brought him whatever rare bird or beast he could find in the sertāo, bringing him parrots, macaws, jacús [Penelope], canindés [? blue and yellow macaws], jaburus' [storks], pheasants, Guinea fowl, ducks, swans, peacocks [cotingids], turkeys, and greater numbers of domestic fowl…there he had normal and black jaguars, pumas, ant-eaters, apes, coastis, squirrel monkeys, apereás [Cavia aperea], gats from Cape Verde, sheep from Angola, cutias [Dasyprocta, pacas [agouti paca], tapirs, wild boars, great numbers of rabbits, and in short there was nothing rare in Brazil that he did not have, since the moradores sent him these things willingly in view of his favour towards them’. As cited by Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 429. Comments in brackets are also by Whitehead. Based on the English translation of C.R. Boxer in The Dutch in Brazil, 115–116.

119 It was far easier to catch and keep young animals, especially predators like the jaguar.

120 Some of these mounted animals are recorded in the Mauritshuis shortly after Johan Maurits's return to the Netherlands in 1644, but they have not survived.

121 According to Ludwig Driesen, there were two copies (both hand-coloured) of the Hisloria in which Johan Maurits made these handwritten annotations: Johan Maurits's personal copy was in the Royal Library in Berlin and the other copy, inscribed by Otho von Schwerin, minister to the Elector of Brandenburg, was in the royal Kunstkammer in Berlin. See Driesen, L., Leben des Fürsten Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen (Berlin 1849) 110–111Google Scholar, 111 (note 2), 361 (nr. 16 b). The von Schwerin copy is still in Berlin, and is described as ‘Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, mit Notizen des Johann Moritz’, item B 27 (335) in the catalogue Soweit der Erdkreis reicht.

122 For example, Whitehead posits that the woodcuts were not copied directly from the watercolours, but from images in pencil that were made before the watercolours (‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 468).

123 Perhaps these were among the drawings mentioned by Johan Maurits among the other objects in Georg's sea chest.

124 British Library Sloane Ms. 1554: Marcgravii Plantae Brasiliens, quarto volume. Joppien believes that these drawings could be the work of Marcgraf himself, although Whitehead believes that one large drawing is by Eckhout. I have not seen these images in person and therefore cannot say whether or not the handwriting is attributable to Marcgraf.

125 As noted above, De Laet also borrowed woodcuts from other texts, such as his book on the New World.

126 Handbooks I and II were described as follows by M.E. Bloch in the preface dated 20 February 1788 to volume six of his Ichthyologie ou historie naturelle, Générate et Particulière des Poissons (Berlin 1795), the French edition of his Naturgeschichte der ausländische Fische (Berlin 1787). He states: ‘Une partie de ce manuscript precieux est en petit folio, en parchemin blanc, avec ce titre: Celsisjoh. Mauriti Nassou. Iconum brasilicarum, Tom. I…Sur chacune est une figure de poisson, d'oiseau, de quadrupède, d'amphibie, d'insects ou de ver. Tout est define tres-nettements & enluminé, en partie, de couleurs très vives &tres-belles. Au-dessus de l'animal ou trouve le nom qu'il porte au Brésil; & au-dessous il est fait mention, en langue allemande, de sa grandeur…La seconde partie, aussi en parchemin blanc, est d'un format un peu plus grand, & a pour titre: Joh. Maurilii Nassov. Rossarzeneykunst. Item: Iconum Brasilicarum Tomus I…La première moitie de ce volume contient le manuscrit allemand sur l'Art de la medecine des chevaux…L'autre moitié, entièrement indépendante de la première, contient les dessins des animaux in Brésil’.

127 Christian states that Georg wrote a letter (no date given) to the astronomer Samuel Kechelius of Leiden that he was packed and expected to return home. Shortly thereafter his orders were changed and he was sent to Angola (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309).

128 ‘Wij recommanderen uwe soeck om de persoonen van George Markgraaf alle behulp ende faveur te doen alsoo de selve derwarts gaet om een pertinente beschrijvinge ende kaert van dit quartiren te maecken’, Letter from Governor and Head Council in Brazil to the [WIC] Directors on the South Coast of Africa, 14 August 1643 (ARA, OWIC 58). This text is translated somewhat differently by Whitehead, who believes that Marcgraf was intended to be on the same ship as the letter. See Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 454. According to the information cited by Klaas Ratelband, on 20 August 1643, the ship De Brack left Pernambuco for Africa. See Ratelband, , Nederlanders in West-Afrika 1600–1650: Angola, Kongo, en San Tome (Zutphen 2000).Google Scholar

129 Ratelband, 201.

130 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’). The time of his birth is given by Marcgraf in the horoscope he drew up for himself. See Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, doc. 80.

131 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 307).

132 Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 63 (note 2).

133 UB Leiden, ASF 9, as cited by Meijer, ‘omstreden nalatenschap’, 63 (note 3).

134 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, as discussed by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 400.

135 Christian states that his brother left the Netherlands on 1 January 1638 for Brazil (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308). However, in Marcgraf's astronomical notes it states that he left on 18 November 1637 (as cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 400). Authors have addressed this discrepancy by suggesting a stay of six weeks in Amsterdam before departure (see note 16 above). Piso may have gone earlier because Johan Maurits needed a replacement doctor immediately, as was requested in a letter of 25 August 1637 (Stokvis, La mededne coloniale, 56–72).

136 Marcgraf says that his brother arrived there within the ‘space of two Months’ (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 308.)

137 GA Leiden; missing.

138 North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 400.

139 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, as cited by Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 452.

140 Historia, 239.

141 Historia, 239.

142 GA Leiden; missing.

143 KHA, The Hague, A4, 1454, 198–199; as discussed by Christian Marcgraf in his biography of his brother. 1 have put the date 28 June first, because this document is closer to the original than Christian's biography.

144 Historia, 241–242.

145 North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 402.

146 Stokvis, La mededne coloniale, 28, note 37.

147 Astronomical notes GA Leiden, as cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 402.

148 Historia, 236.

149 North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 402.

150 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309).

151 C. Marcgraf (Whitehead, ‘Biography’, 309).

152 As in note 73.

153 As in note 74.

154 Historia (meteorological notes), 264–6. Marcgraf says that their hand froze and that droplets from their exhaled breath covered their hair and beards. The location of this mountain, which presumably received another name at a later date, is not currently known. In 1900 F.A. Pereira da Costa suggested the Garanhuns plateau, 290 km southwest of Recife in his article ‘Primeiros observacoes meterolologicas no Brasil’, as cited by Whitehead, ‘Georg Markgraf and Brazilian Zoology’, 426–427 (notes 9, 18).

155 In the Leiden astronomical notes, Marcgraf states that after returning from the expedition that began 9 February, he immediately set out on another. As cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 407.

156 ARA-OWIC 69, The Hague.

157 Historia, 237.

158 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, as cited North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 404.

159 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, as cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 404.

160 See page 99 in Paris MS A.B. 4.5, as cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 404 (note 404).

161 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, as cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 452.

162 See Paris MS A.B. 4.5, as cited by North, ‘Astronomer in the New World’, 404.

163 A fragment of the original map is in the collection of the ARA in The Hague. See VEL 695.

164 As in note 128.

165 Part of the problem is Piso's assertion that Marcgraf lived only ‘four or six weeks’ before his death in Brazil. See his 12 May 1655 letter to Jacob Gool, UB Leiden.

166 Astronomical notes, GA Leiden, doc. 7. North believes this is a prediction (‘Astronomer in the New World’, 418).