Delft in 1649

Delft Batavorum from Blaeu's Toonneel der Steden, edited by Willem and Joan Blaeu, 1652. It was published in Amsterdam in just three years after the peace of Munster and the Spanish acknowledgement of the Dutch Republic.

The map, according to the conventions of the time, is laid out for the most balanced design. North is toward the top left corner, not straight up.

The canal off the left, the Vliet, connects Delft to Leiden, twelve miles north. Leeuwenhoek may well have traveled that canal to go to school in Warmond and to his apprenticeship in Amsterdam.

The canal off the right, the Delftse Schie, connects Delft eight miles to Delftshaven, the harbor on the Maas River, and thus out to the North Sea.

Note that Delft had six gates to pass over the outer moat, the singel, in Delft also referred to as the vest. Only one gate remains, the Oostpoort in the top right corner.