Old Map of Northern Scotland by Joan Blaeu, 1654

Joan Blaeu and Robert Gordon’s Map of Northern Scotland

Published in Amsterdam in 1654, this remarkable map records the northern mainland of Scotland, principally Ross, Sutherland, Caithness and Strathnaver, together with neighbouring districts and part of Moray. Its full Latin title, Extima Scotiae septentrionalis ora, identifies these northern provinces and, importantly, the map itself credits Robert Gordon of Straloch with compiling and describing the geography: R. Gordonius à Strath-Loch collegit et descripsit. Joan Blaeu was the publisher of the finished map in his great Atlas of Scotland.

Map Details

Original title: Extima Scotiae septentrionalis ora, ubi Provinciae sunt Rossia, Sutherlandia, Cathenesia, Strath-Naverniae, cum vicinis regiunculis quae eis subsunt, etiamque Moravia

Cartographer / compiler: Robert Gordon of Straloch (1580–1661)

Publisher: Joan Blaeu

First published: Amsterdam, 1654

Area shown: Northern mainland Scotland, principally Ross, Sutherland, Caithness and Strathnaver, together with neighbouring districts and part of Moray

Map credit: R. Gordonius à Strath-Loch collegit et descripsit

Source atlas: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, sive Atlas Novus, Volume V — Scotland, 1654

Product type: Reproduction of a seventeenth-century copper-engraved map

Robert Gordon of Straloch was one of the key figures in bringing Scotland’s first great regional atlas to completion. A scholar, antiquary and accomplished mapmaker, Gordon became closely involved in preparing Scottish geographical material for publication by the Blaeu workshop in Amsterdam. Earlier surveys by Timothy Pont were crucial to the Atlas of Scotland as a whole, but the surviving documentary and cartographic evidence identifies Gordon himself as the compiler of this particular Northern Scotland sheet. The National Library of Scotland likewise catalogues Extima Scotiae septentrionalis ora under Robert Gordon of Straloch.

The full title gives an unusually useful summary of the territory represented. Ross, Sutherland, Caithness and Strathnaver are each named individually, reflecting historic regional identities that do not correspond exactly with modern county or administrative boundaries. Moray is also included towards the southern part of the map. A surviving 1654 copy records a scale of approximately 1:450,000 and describes the relief convention as mountains shown pictorially in profile, together with waterways, woodland, settlements and shaded coastlines.

Ross occupies a large part of the southern and western area. Its varied landscape stretches from the more fertile country adjoining the firths towards the mountainous Atlantic seaboard, where sea lochs penetrate deeply into the land. Further north lies Sutherland, shown as a broad landscape of hills, rivers, lochs and scattered settlements. The relative prominence of waterways and coastlines reminds us how important maritime communication was in northern Scotland before the development of modern roads.

To the north-east is Caithness, reaching towards the Pentland Firth and the sea routes leading to Orkney. The map also gives special prominence to Strathnaver, the historic territory centred upon the valley of the River Naver in the far north. Although the name is less familiar today, in Gordon’s period Strathnaver possessed a strong regional identity and formed an important part of the northern Highland landscape.

The map was produced long before modern scientific surveying. Mountains are therefore represented by individually engraved hill symbols rather than contours, while towns and settlements appear through conventional building signs. Rivers, lochs and coastal features form the geographical framework around which the inhabited landscape is arranged. These conventions give the sheet its unmistakably seventeenth-century character while still allowing many familiar places and physical features to be recognised.

Historic place-names are among the most engaging details. Spellings often differ considerably from modern forms, preserving names as they were recorded and transmitted before standardisation. Research into the Beauly area, for example, notes that Blaeu’s 1654 Northern Scotland map records the settlement as “Beaulie” and points specifically to Gordon manuscript mapping as an important source for this district.

The decorative treatment is equally characteristic of the Blaeu publishing house. Practical geographical information was transformed into an impressive atlas sheet through elaborate lettering, cartouches and finely engraved pictorial detail. The result was intended not merely to communicate geography but to meet the exceptionally high visual standards associated with one of Europe’s leading seventeenth-century map publishers.

The appearance of the map in 1654 marked an important moment in Scottish cartography. Joan Blaeu’s Scottish volume brought together a remarkable collection of detailed regional maps and made Scottish geography available to an international readership on a scale never previously achieved. Contemporary institutional catalogues record the 1654 map under both Joan Blaeu and Robert Gordon, neatly reflecting their different roles as publisher and cartographer.

Today Extima Scotiae septentrionalis ora provides a fascinating record of Northern Scotland before modern roads, railways and systematic Ordnance Survey mapping transformed the way the Highlands were represented. The extensive coastlines, historic settlements, old place-names and pictorial mountain ranges preserve a landscape documented more than three and a half centuries ago.

For anyone with connections to Ross-shire, Sutherland, Caithness, Strathnaver or the Northern Highlands, the map combines Robert Gordon’s important cartographic work with the engraving and publishing craftsmanship of Joan Blaeu’s Amsterdam workshop.

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