r/oldmaps

Came across a quaint little antique store while travelling in Denmark. This map is of Oceania and the Pacific circa 1910–12.

Dimensions: 85 x 262 centimeters.

Description:

A facsimile of an illuminated copy of the Padrón Real (Royal Chart), created on parchment by Juan Vespucci—nephew of the famous Amerigo, after whom the New World was named. The Padrón Real was an official, secret master map depicting the entire known world; it was a constantly updated record based on data brought back by pilots from their voyages of exploration during the 16th century. It was required to clearly display the lands and islands belonging to the Crown of Castile, particularly newly discovered coastlines. This map served as the standard model for all other nautical charts produced in Seville, with severe financial penalties imposed on anyone who deviated from it. Its creation and maintenance were managed in Seville by the Casa de la Contratación de Indias (House of Trade). Numerous official cartographers and pilots contributed to its development, including Amerigo Vespucci, Sebastian Cabot, Alonso de Santa Cruz, and Juan López de Velasco.

Prominent at the top of the map is the coat of arms of Charles V—Holy Roman Emperor—depicted as a double-headed eagle crowning the Americas. The following inscription appears at the bottom: «Juan Vespuchi piloto de sus ma[ges]ta[des] le fecit en Sevjlla [a]ño d[e] 1526» (Juan Vespuchi, pilot to Their Majesties, made this in Seville in the year 1526.) The planisphere features two 32-point wind roses, from which rhumb lines radiate across the map's surface. Inland details include the harvesting of Brazilwood, camels and elephants along the African coast, the Tower of Babel crumbling in the Near East, and the Red Sea depicted in a reddish hue. It also marks the latest Spanish discoveries, such as the Strait of Magellan (1520), the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan (1521), and the coastal expedition from northern Florida to South Carolina organized by Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón in 1521—in whose honor Vespucci named these lands "Tierra nueva de Ayllón."

It is accompanied by a notarial certificate: This facsimile copy of the "Juan Vespucci Portolan Chart"—the original of which is held by the Hispanic Society of America in New York—is number 107 of the worldwide edition produced by the Plus Ultra publishing project, limited to nine hundred and twenty-one copies. Notary: Salvador Moratal Margarit; December 23, 1998.

Source(s):

.- Hispanic Society of America

Source(s):

.- University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries.

The plan was drawn up by Jean Louis de Morainville in 1741, in the context of the French Geodesic Mission that arrived in the Province of Quito within the Kingdom of Peru; the latter was part of the Kingdom of the Indies—a collection of overseas realms belonging to the Crown of Castile—which was in turn the property of the Catholic Monarchy (the Spanish Empire) in 1736.

Its title employs the term "Royaume de Pérou" (Kingdom of Peru)—an expression common in some European cartography to refer broadly to the Spanish Andean territories in South America.

Image: Bonne, R. (ca. 1780). Carte du Pérou ou se trouvent les Audiences de Quito, Lima et la Plata [Map]. Chez Lattré. JCB Map Collection.

Source(s):

.- Lattre, Jean, Atlas Moderne ou Collection de Cartes sur Toutes les Parties du Globe Terrestre, c. 1775.