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The Luso-Hispanic World in Maps: A Selective Guide to Manuscript Maps to 1900

World Maps (10-15)

This section contains maps covering all or most of the world (entries numbered 10 through 15). Entries are divided into maps centered on the Atlantic Ocean and those centered on the Pacific Ocean.

10. [A portolan chart of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent Continents]. Roiz, Pascoal. 1633. Colored pen-and-ink ms. on vellum, 80 x 95 cm. Scale not given. (Vellum Chart; 16). 2008-621738

[A portolan chart of the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent continents].
Luso-Hispanic World number 10. Geography and Map Division.

This elaborate elegant Portuguese portolan chart depicts the Atlantic Ocean, the southeast Pacific Ocean, the southwest Indian Ocean, as well as the continents of South America, Africa, Europe, and portions of North America and Asia. Chart emphasizes the Atlantic Ocean as well as the cities, towns, and physical features along the coasts of the various continents included. Some information for the interior regions of continents is also provided. Flags and standards of European powers and of Turkey denote possessions. Over Iberia, the Portuguese and Spanish flags appear side by side, suggesting the dual kingdom existing from 1580 to 1640. Of particular note is the image of the Portuguese settlement of La Mina in Ghana with the fort and its native population. In South America, an exaggerated Paraguay and Marañon River system separates Brazil from Spanish America suggesting Brazil is an island. Possessions of the French, Dutch, and English (Virginia) are noted by standards in North America. Map also includes various religious images, e.g. Our Lady of the Nativity, St. Anthony, The Immaculate Conception, and the Crucifixion, and multiple decorative wind roses. For further information about this chart, see Nautical Charts on Vellum in the Library of Congress (Washington: Library of Congress, 1977).

G9111.P5 1633 .R7 Oversize Vault Drawer : Vellum 16

Atlantic Ocean/Pacific Ocean/Indian Ocean/North America/South America/Africa/Asia/Europe


11. Carta esférica del Occeano [sic] Alántico [sic] que comprehende las costas de Europa, Africa y América septentrional/. Gonzalez, Miguel. [1800]. Pen-and-ink ms., 58 x 89 cm. Scale ca. 1:12,000,000. (Maggs purchase map collection; 255). 90-680569.

Carta esférica del Occeano [sic] Alántico [sic] que comprehende las costas de Europa, Africa y América septentrional
Luso-Hispanic World number 11. Geography and Map Division.

This ambitious and well executed map of the coasts of Europe, West Africa, Northern South America, Eastern North America, and the Carribean region, includes coastlines, coastal features, shoals, and settlements; map also includes an elaborate cartouche in the form of a boulder. This map is part of the G&M Division's collection from the Real Escuela de Navegación, Cadiz, Spain purchased from Maggs Brothers, London.

G9110 1800 .G6 Vault

Atlantic Ocean/North Atlantic Ocean


12. [Chart of the Atlantic Ocean including the coastlines of Europe, Africa, South America, and North America]. Ferr[eir]a, M[ano]el. [early 18th century]. Colored pen-and-ink ms. on vellum, 83 x 61 1/2 cm. Scale not given. (Vellum Chart; 29). 2015593209.

[Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, from 37° N to 42° S]
Luso-Hispanic World number 12. Geography and Map Division.

This is a decorative Portuguese chart of the Atlantic Ocean and the coastlines of South America, Africa, Europe, and Newfoundland. Map also includes coastal features, navigational hazards, European standards denoting possessions in Africa and Brazil, ornate wind roses, and a pictorial representation of the Portuguese fortification of Mina in present day Ghana. Map recognizes the Portuguese claims at Colonia (do Sacramento) on the Río de la Plata. No reference to Portugal is found in the Iberian peninsula, only the name "Espanha" appears. Distinctive latitude and longitude lines are shown in the middle of the ocean.

G5352.R45 1750 .N8 Vault : Vellum 29

Atlantic Ocean/Africa--Atlantic Coast/Mediterranean Sea/Europe--Atlantic Coast/ South America--Atlantic Coast/Newfoundland, Canada


13. Descripción o carta de golfo que contiene la costa de España, Verueria y Guinea hasta las yslas de Barlovto. con sus derrotas de y da y Buelta adistintos parages / comensada a delinear por Gabriel Muños y concluida por Jph. Blanco, segs. pilots. de la Rl. Armada bajo la corrn. de Dn. Jph. T. Badaro, co. Dn. d. S.M. ; es de la Real Escuela de Navegación en el Departamto. de Cádiz, 1756. Muños, Gabriel. [1756]. Colored pen-and-ink ms., 62 x 94 cm. Scale ca. 1:8,000,000. (Maggs purchase map collection; 254). 91-683516.

Descripción o carta de golfo que contiene la costa de España, Verueria y Guinea hasta las yslas de Barlovto. con sus derrotas de y da y Buelta adistintos parages
Luso-Hispanic World number 13. Geography and Map Division.

This large scale map of the Atlantic Ocean with the coasts of Iberia, West Africa, Northern South America, the Carribean Islands, New England, and Nova Scotia, includes coastlines, coastal features, representations of vessels, rhumb lines, and lines in blue and red ink indicating seasonal navigation routes. Notes along these seasonal navigation routes include: "Derrota que otros Navios hasen en tiempo de Verano" and "Derrota que hasen los Navios que van para la Costa de Ginea, Buenos ayres, y Cavo de Hornos". Map also includes the shield of the Real Escuela de Navegación, Cadiz. This map is part of the G&M Division's collection from the Real Escuela de Navegación, Cadiz, Spain purchased from Maggs Brothers, London.

G9110 1756 .M8 Vault

Atlantic Ocean/North Atlantic Ocean


14. [South Atlantic Ocean with South American and African Coasts]. Thornton, John. [London]. 1681. Colored pen-and-ink ms. on vellum, 51 1/2 x 69 cm. Scale not given. (Vellum Chart; 21). 2020587731.

[Chart of the South Atlantic Ocean with the coasts of Brazil and West Africa].
Luso-Hispanic World number 14. Geography and Map Division.

This is a decorative, colorful, and detailed sea chart of the South Atlantic and portions of the South American and African coastlines by John Thornton (fl. 1669-1701). He was a notable English cartographer of the Thames School of Chartmakers and was hydrographer both of the Hudson Bay Company and of the East India Company. Most of the charts in the New York Public Library's ca. 1710 Sea-Atlas formerly attributed to his son, Samuel Thornton, are now attributed to him. He also published printed charts. This 1681 chart includes coastlines, coastal features, navigational hazards, islands, an ornate wind rose, several sets of rhumb lines, and an elaborate framed scale scroll. For further information on this chart, see Nautical Charts on Vellum in the Library of Congress (Washington: Library of Congress, 1977). In that work, it is suggested that this chart was among several produced principally for voyages between the Cape of Good Hope and England; however, substantial data on the map regarding the coasts of Brazil and Uruguay and a reference to the "Rio de Plata" would suggest British interest in contemporary Portuguese expansion into that part of South America.

G9166.P5 1681 .T5 Vault : Vellum 21

South Atlantic Ocean/South America--Atlantic Coast/Africa--Atlantic Coast

15. [Map of Pacific Ocean between the coast of California and Mexico and Japan, Philippines, and the coast of China]. [ca. 1784]. Pen-and-ink ms., 52 x 191 cm. Scale ca. 1:8,500,000. (Maggs purchase map collection; 235). 91-680984.

[Map of Pacific Ocean between the coast of California and Mexico and Japan, Philippines, and the coast of China].
Luso-Hispanic World number 15. Geography and Map Division.

This map of the Pacific Ocean from California and Mexico to the Philippines, Taiwan, and South China includes coastlines, coastal features, and settlements. This map is part of the G&M Division's collection from the Real Escuela de Navegación, Cadiz, Spain purchased from Maggs Brothers, London.

G9230 1784 .M3 Vault

Pacific Ocean