oa ‘Dat dit Nederlant is’

Despite vast research on early modern atlases and their maps, little is known about texts in atlases. This study focusses on these texts in verso about the Netherlands in six early modern Dutch world atlases (1571- 1664). Through their comprehensive descriptions and characterization of the Netherlands, these texts confirm and shape an image of the Netherlands and especially of the Dutch Republic. The study found that the atlases used the same sources and copy or paraphrase each other. This causes a delay in information, but also establishes a vast and repeated image of the Dutch Republic, with emphasis on the continuation of the Seventeen Netherlands into the Republic, the freedom and independence of the Provinces, and the trade and prosperity of the young Republic.