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The discovery of the New World,
Magellan¡¯s and others¡¯celebrated travels and not the least the growth
of the sea might of the Netherlands have resulted in a political shift
of balance. The Hanseatic League declined in importance, while the Netherlands
became a leading world power, Following the Union of Utrech(1579) the
country asserted a leading role in European naval commerce, but its
global influence was also marked by settlements in South and Southeast
Asia as well as the Americas.
It is no wonder therefore that the use of the name ¡°North Sea¡± became
ever more widespread at the expense of ¡°German Sea(or Ocean)¡±. The change
was much more gradual, however.
Around the 16th and 17th centuries there was a random use of the names
Mare Germanicum, Oceanus Germanicus, Oceanus Britannicus and North Sea.
In 1579 Christoper Saxton still confidently put Oceanus Germanicus in
his Atlas of England and Wales. Less than 50 years later on the other
hand John Speed was far less consequent in his atlas ¡°A Prospect of
the Most Famous Parts of the World¡±(1626). On his map of Europe for
example one may read ¡°The Germaine Ocean¡±. In the Description of Germany
we read: the ¡°Rhene(Rhine)¡¦ runs into the German Ocean¡±. On the ¡°Newe
Mape of Germany¡± he uses the name ¡°The Ocean Sea¡± Maps of the Low Countries
and Denmark both feature ¡°Germa(i)ne Ocean¡± and ¡°North Sea¡±.
From the 17th and especially during the 18th centuries the usual standard
name featured ¡°Mare Germanicum vulgo in everyday use Noord Zee¡±. The Baltic
Sea on the other hand had an identical way of designation ¡°Mare Balticum
vulgo De Oost Zee¡± show J.B. Homann¡¯s maps of Europe from 1706 and 1712
respectively. On the earlier one the solar eclipse of the year 1706 is
nicely shown by a blue band.
In the 19th century we can still see a transition(at least outside the
Netherlands). An American map from 1832 only uses ¡°North Sea¡±, but another
American atlas (Mitchell¡¯s New General Atlas, 1875) uses ¡°North Sea¡± on
one map and ¡°German Ocean or North Sea¡± on another.
German atlases of the last century alternatively used ¡°Deutsches Meer¡±
and ¡°Nordsee¡±.
An atlas of Bartholomew published in 1892 only ¡°North Sea¡± is given.
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