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Map of the Cordon of Defence between the Commewijne River and the Cassewinica Creek

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Map of the Cordon of Defence between the Commewijne River and the Cassewinica Creek

Goetzee, N.

Titel Leupe: Kaart van het terrein tusschen Post Jockemombo aan de Commowyne, en Post kopie aan de Cassewinica Creeq.

Judging from the year and the trajectory running to post Kopie, this survey map was designed to complement the plans for the large Cordon of Defence which was constructed between 1774 and 1778 to protect the eastern plantation areas and the adjacent coastal strip against the initially very successful Marron troops led by Boni. The first designs and surveys had been prepared in 1772, but preliminary work on a large scale, in which the military engineers Johan Christoph Heneman and Johann Friedrich Ferdinand Wollant, played a leading role, began only a year later. Both of them produced detail maps of the separate sections of the Cordon path. This map of the section between the Commewijne River and the Cassewinica creek, however, was made by the surveyor Goetzee. Goetzee applies a simpler drawing style which is accompagnied by an abundance of notes and reference numbers. The main attention is not given to fortifications but creeks, gardens, plantations and forests. The map appears to complement the work of Heneman and Wollant through a focus on what should be defended rather than how the defence should be organized.

North is below.

Scale-bar of 6000 steps = 1 hour = 140 ‘strepen’.

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Sources and literature

Heijer, H. den, Grote Atlas van de West-Indische Compagnie = Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, II, de nieuwe WIC 1674-1791 = the new WIC 1674-1791 (2012)