Views of London from the 17^th Century

Take a good look at this Renaissance view of London. Orient yourself by finding London Bridge to the right of the graphic. Then look for the ovals of the Globe Theatre and the Bear-baiting pit on the south (nearer to you) side of the river to the left of London Bridge--in the area labeled "Southwark (link to contemporary map that puts Southwark in the context of 19th-century London--200+ years after Shakespeare's time)." (Click here for another interesting paper on "Southwark" at this time.) Across the River Thames you'll see the old St. Paul's Cathedral (which burnt with most of London) in the Great Fire of 1665. Use the mouse to move this image(and the others that follow) around, by clicking on the bars at the right side and bottom of the window.) Click here for another Renaissance view of London and a contemporary Tudor map.  Click here for a great, readable, huge view of London, Visscher's, from 1616. Below the image there's a link to a contemporary map of the city.

To see several other "views" of London from the 16^th and 17^th centuries, click here for Professor James Saeger's "Views of London and Its Suburbs" site at Vassar College. Follow the following link to information about Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Click here to take a virtual tour of the Globe Theatre, courtesy of the good folks at Clemson University. Today, the National Theatre of the United Kingdom is also located in Southwark. What a tradition! London in 1612 had a population of about 325,000. That's 3/4 the size of Portland, Oregon (within the city limits) in 2008. If you have time, look at the following link which takes you to a contemporary map of London. Notice how the city has grown westward, in particular. Much of what you see in the Renaissance illustration is on the right and bottom right of the contemporary map. A contemporary map of London, circa 2008 . (Zoom in a few clicks when you get there.)

Click here to go to Almanack, page 2

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