![]() The Spanish followed suit not long after and managed to sail to Asia in the early 16th century. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to discover a sea route to Asia in the late 15th century when the intrepid explorer Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498. These early maps and charts were produced during the “age of discovery” when Europeans were looking for a sea route to Asia and the famed Spice Islands (Moluccas, today known as Maluku) of Indonesia, in the hope of securing the lucrative trade in spices such as pepper, cloves and nutmeg. The Rare Maps Collection includes maps that illustrate the development of European mapping of early Southeast Asia, as well as the history of the region. In 2012, the library acquired the valuable and historically significant David Parry Southeast Asian Map Collection, which constitutes 254 maps dating from the 15th to 19th centuries and created by prominent European cartographers. Other maps were donated to the library and the rest were purchased over the years. Mills in 1936, now known as the Mills Collection, which comprises 208 maps and charts relating to the Malay Peninsula from the period before 1600 until 1879. Most of the maps were inherited from the former Raffles Museum and Library, in particular a set of early Malayan maps photocopied by J.V. The majority of the maps were printed by European map-makers before 1945. The collection contains topographic maps and navigational charts covering Singapore, Southeast Asia and Asia, as well as town plans and street maps of Singapore and Malaya. The National Library’s Rare Maps Collection forms part of the valuable Rare Materials Collection held in its Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. a donneé au public & sur les memoires les plus recens et mis au jour, Johannes Covens and Cornelis Mortier (Amsterdam, circa 1730). L’Asie dressée sur les observations de M.rs de l’Académie Royale de Sciences & de Sanson, Nolin, Du Fer, De L’Isle & principalement sur la carte que monsieur N: Witsen Bourgemaistre &c. Detail from a wall map by map printing and publishing firm Covens & Mortier.
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