Biblical geography: Maps in sixteenth-century printed bibles from the low countries

Maps in Dutch printed Bibles made their debut when the Bible was first printed in large folio format in the Low Countries. The first complete Dutch Bible in the folio format that appeared on the market, by Jacob van Liesvelt in 1526, already included a map. This was a map of the Exodus, the Israelites' journey through the desert from the land of Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. In the course of the second half of the sixteenth century, additional maps appeared in Bibles published in the Low Countries. In the sixteenth century, maps are found in both Catholic and Protestant Bibles.