In 1654 Joannis Blaeu published volume 5 of his Atlas Novus. The Atlas contained three general maps of Scotland and 46 maps of Scottish counties or regions, making Scotland the best mapped country in the world.



The Blaeu outline was influential on the outline of Scotland for the next decade to come. This is a comparison of subsequent outlines of Scotland before the 1747-1755 Roy Military Survey of Scotland truly surveyed the whole of Scotland.

The maps in this comparison are:

Excluded is the [1687] – Robert Morden – A mapp of Scotland made by R. Gordon because it essentially just follows the Blaeu outline.

In addition a background map was created from OS BoundaryLine (High Water Polyline) and converted to a polygon.

Everything is converted to WGS 84 / World Mercator projection (EPSG:3395).

For more on how the outlines were created:

Georeferencing vector data

For a history of the maps used:

Historic Maps of Scotland from Blaeu to Dorret (1600-1700)

If you are interested in buying a historically amazing map:

Blaeu Atlas Maior of 1665 – Including the atlas of Scotland.

Scotland’s changing coastline: