Map of Wales

In 1611 John Speed (1551/2–1629), an English historian and renowned cartographer, published his ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain’. This was the earliest English attempt at producing an atlas on a large scale.

The second of this work’s four volumes covered Wales and included a map of Wales (dated 1610) along with individual maps of the 13 Welsh counties. Speed’s ‘Theatre’ was extremely successful and its maps became the basis for folio atlases produced up to the mid-18th century.