The Oldenburg Land in the north-western part of modern Lower Saxony includes the coastal areas west of the mouth of the Weser, up to the island of Wangerooge, and reaches south to the Dümmer lake, north of Osnabrück. In the Middle Ages, the County of Oldenburg was established along the rivers Jade, Hunte and Weser. In 1583, Laurentius Michaelis (ca. 1529-1584) drew the first map of the county, which Abraham Ortelius (1527-1598) printed in his new Theatrum-edition in the following year. It shows the union of the lordships of Jever (red) with the County of Oldenburg (yellow) since 1575 and is, therefore, of considerable political importance. The map is rather inaccurate and out of date with regard to its representation of geographical detail, particularly for the Jade Bight. Due to the map’s distribution via the atlases of Ortelius and Mercator, however, this false depiction of the region was widely disseminated.