These maps of Ireland – a selection from 1562 to 1850 - provide an insight into the changing Irish landscape and are a tribute to the accuracy, detail and art of the cartographers of the time. They include decorative maps by the supreme Flemish cartographer, Gerard Mercator, and Italian naval cartographer, Baptista Boazio, who gathered his information whilst sailing with Sir Francis Drake, the English explorer/pirate.

Many maps of Ireland were drawn at a time when the English were attempting to colonise Ireland. It was necessary for the English military to have accurate information about the country and these maps were then useful in the transferring of land ownership from the native Irish people to English settlers. John Speed's beautiful map ‘The Kingdom of Ireland', part of his ‘Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain’ (1610), shows Irish figures wearing national costume.

By 1846, the entire island of Ireland had been surveyed - at a scale of six inches to one mile - by the Ordnance Survey Office (established in 1824 to carry out the task). Ireland was the first country in the world to be entirely mapped at such a detailed scale.

Irlandia Reginum, by Gerard Mercator, 1562

Irlande Accurata Descriptio, by Baptist Boazio, 1603 

The Kindom of Ireland, by John Speed, 1610

Hibernia Regnum vulgo Ireland, by Willem Blaeu, 1636-c.1645

L'Irlanda Hibernia, by Giacomo Rossi, 1690

Le Royaume D'Irlande, by Alexis Hubert Jaillot, 1693

Carte Réduite des Isles Britanniques, by Jacques Bellin, c.1760

Ireland, by John Tallis, c.1850