Lewis & Harris

Historical Background

Published by Joan Blaeu in Amsterdam in 1654 for his Atlas Novus, this map presents Lewis and Harris as a single continuous landmass while retaining their separate names. Its title explains that, although joined by a neck of land, they were regarded as different islands. That distinction remains familiar today: Lewis names the northern part and Harris the southern part of the same Outer Hebridean island.

Map Details

• Original title: Leogus et Haraia, insulae ex Aebudarum numero, quae, quamquam isthmo cohaereant, pro diversis habentur
• English title: Lewis and Harray of the numbre of the Westerne Yles
• Publisher: Joan Blaeu
• Publication: Amsterdam, 1654
• Source: Atlas Novus, Scottish volume
• Area shown: Lewis, Harris and neighbouring islands of the Outer Hebrides
• Orientation: West at the top; north to the right
• Printing method: Copperplate engraving

A familiar island turned sideways

This old map of Lewis and Harris uses an orientation quite different from most modern maps. “Occidens”, meaning west, appears along the upper border, while “Septentrio”, meaning north, is on the right. Lewis therefore occupies the right-hand side of the sheet and Harris extends towards the left.

Reading those border labels helps make sense of the coastline. The island is surrounded by small offshore islands, individually outlined in colour, while sea lochs cut deeply into the land. Loch Langavat is named within Lewis, among numerous smaller inland waters and streams.

Mountains, water and settlements

Blaeu’s engravers represented the interior with rows of shaded hills rather than measured contours. Mountain symbols are especially prominent across Harris and western Lewis, contrasting with the more open northern landscape towards the right of the map.

Small red building symbols pick out inhabited places along the coasts and around the waterways. Rivers, lochs and historic place names receive far more attention than roads. The result records a landscape understood through its settlements, terrain and access to the sea, rather than the road network familiar to a modern visitor.

Ships and compass lines

Unlike many inland atlas maps, this sheet gives considerable space to the surrounding sea. Several sailing ships and smaller vessels appear around the island, while fine lines radiate from three compass roses and cross the whole composition.

Those maritime details are part of the engraving’s distinctive appearance. They also draw attention to the channels and offshore islands surrounding Lewis and Harris. This is an historic atlas map, however, rather than a modern navigation chart.

The bilingual title

The decorated title panel combines Latin with Scots, naming the island as “Lewis and Harray”. Its explanation of their connection is unusually revealing: the distinction between the two names mattered enough to be stated directly in the title.

A second ornamental panel contains the scale, labelled Scala Miliarium, accompanied by figures and decorative flourishes. Together with the coloured coastlines, ships and compass lines, these panels balance the detailed geography with the elaborate presentation characteristic of Blaeu’s seventeenth-century atlases.