Isaac Tirion; 1705-1765.

Born in Utrecht, Tirion started a publishing business in Amsterdam.
He became mostly known for his works on Dutch towns and provinces (see his 1739 Atlas of the Dutch provinces, edited till 1557).
He also made good use of renown cartographers maps (in particular by G Delisle, and Thomas Jefferys) in his successful 1740 "Nieuwe en beknopte Handatlas", a small format world atlas re-edited 6 times till 1784.

Kaart van de landengte van Panama.

This map (11 7/8" X 10 ½") was printed for inclusion in a late edition of Tirion's "Handatlas".
It shows with great detail the famed "Camino Real", the trail used by mule trains to transfer goods from the Pacific (de Zuid Zee; or South Sea, as it was known then) to the Atlantic side, originally from Panama to Nombre de Dios. Silver from Potosi (in present day Bolivia), gold from Cuzco (Peru), quinine from Ecuador, ... were loaded on galleons which hugged the coast heading north for Panama. Notice:
- the old Panama town, founded in 1519. It was abandoned after its sack in 1671 by Henry Morgan, and relocated west to a more defensible site.
- Nombre de Dios, a very unhealthy site, was abandoned in 1597 after its burning by Drake and relocated at Portobelo which still bears its coat of arms.
After unloading the ships at Panama, there were two possibilities:
- either during the rainy season or for bulky items "El Camino a Cruces", a day hike, and then boarding river boats and float down to Chagres, re-load on seagoing ships and head for Porto Bello;
- or, for most of the time "El Camino Real", a four day brutal trek through the isthmus (notice the three night stops along the trail in San Juan, Pequeni and Boqueron).
Chagres and Portobelo, were also subject to numerous attacks, sieges, sacks and plunderings at the hands of privateers such as Drake, Cavendish, Morgan, etc.
No text on verso.