The Zelandia Illustrata is the oldest collection of prints about the Dutch county Zeeland

Zeeland

Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...

. The collection consists of 4 categories: maps and plans, topography

Topography

Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...

, history and life, portraits and personal particulars.

The collection was founded by the Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

lawyer Jacob Verheye van Citters (1753–1823) in the 18th century. In 1863 the collection was handed over to the Zeeland's Royal Society of Science (Koninklijk Zeeuwsch Genootschap der Wetenschappen). At the time the collection comprised 3,000 items of representation. Through acquisitions and gifts the collection nowadays consists of around 18,000 maps, prints, drawings, photographs, glass negatives, slides and postcards. This material provides a versatile image of Zeeland from the 16th century to the present.