The Siege of Tunis: Tunetis Vrbis, Ac Novae Eius Arcis........

Original copperplate engraved city view
Fine Handcolor
323 x 414 mm
Map #AF-341
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Tunis was bitterly contested during the 1500s.  The Spanish under Charles V occupied Tunis in 1535 and in 1574 it was recaptured by the Turks.  This view shows the siege of Tunis by the Turks in 1574.  The Turkish fleet has just entered the Gulf of Tunis, in the foreground.  The fortifications around "Stagnum" are still in the hands of the Spanish as is the outer harbor, "La Goulette".

This view has fine, interesting details of the battle for the city - numerous ships in the harbor, soldiers in battle, diagram of the fortifications, military encampments, etc.  The right side of the map shows the ancient ruins of Carthage.  Latin text on verso.

Braun and Hogenberg complied the famed Civitates Orbis Terrarum of six volumes in Cologne in 1572-1618.  It was the first atlas of towns, places, and views showing the known world.  Braun, a Canon of the Cathedral at Cologne, complied the text on verso describing the views.  Hogenberg engraved the views themselves.

(Klemp, Egon.  Africa on Maps Dating From the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century.  Leipzig: 1968. p. 38)

Very Fine condition.   Attractively colored view of Tunis.