Portuguese presence in Asia

In a magnificent vignette on this map, Lopo vaz de Sampaio, governor of Portuguese India from 1526-1529, appears to be shown en route to his new posting discussing plans for sharing the bounty of the Moluccas, with representatives of New Spain.

In 1526 tensions between Spain and Portugal were greatly reduced when Charles V of Spain married Isabella of Portugal, and signed a new treaty with Portugal, in Zaragoza in 1529. Its main outcome was the creation of an antimeridian line in the far east. Portugal “paid Spain 350,000 ducats for the Moluccas, and, to prevent further Spanish encroachment, the new line of demarcation was established almost three hundred leagues (or 17°) to the east of these islands. Portugal got control of all of the lands to the west of the line, including Asia, and Spain received most of the Pacific Ocean. Spain’s argument that the Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world into two equal hemispheres was not recognized in the Treaty of Saragossa: Portugal’s share was approximately 191°, whereas Spain’s was roughly 169°, with a variation of about ±4° owing to the uncertainty of the location of the Tordesillas line. Spanish interest in the Philippines, shown by the new treaty to be on the Portugal side of the line, would become an issue in the later decades of the sixteenth century” (Princeton University online).

The geography of the map is, however, based on Dutch discoveries in the seventeenth century, with Australia appearing as Abel Tasman cahrted it in 1644.

The geography of the map is, however, based on Dutch discoveries in the seventeenth century, with Australia appearing as Abel Tasman cahrted it in 1644.

Pieter van der Aa’s map was first published to illustrate his ‘Staatsugtige Scheeps- Togten en Krygs- Bedryven Ter handhaving van der Portugysen Opper-Bestier in Oost- Indien Door Don Lopo vaz de Sampayo 1526’, from his compendium of voyages ‘Naaukeurige Versameling der GedenkWaardigste Zee en Land-Reysen’ (1707).

Publication

Description

Dimensions

References

“TERRA AUSTRALIS” AS VAST AND SEPARATE SOUTHERN LANDMASS

ORTELIUS, Abraham

Typus Orbis Terrarum.

Publication

Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1584.

Description

Double-page engraved map with contemporary hand-colour in full, Latin text on verso.

Dimensions

440 by 550mm (17.25 by 21.75 inches).

References

Clancy, ‘The Mapping of Terra Australis’, 1995, 5.9; Shirley World 158; Suarez, ‘Early Mapping of Southeast Asia’, 1999, page 160; Van den Broecke, ‘Ortelius Atlas Maps: An Illustrated Guide’, 2011, 1.1 1584L1.

One of many maps in Abraham Ortelius’s atlas that amalgamate the accumulating information about the nature of the lands of the East Indies, and show a clear sea-passage from Europe to the region. A number of legends appear in the vast southern continent, “Terra Australis Nondum Cognita”, including: “Hanc continentem Australem, nonnulli Magellanicam regionem ab eius inuentore nuncupant”, which explains that this Southern continent is also known as Magellanica, after its discoverer; and “Noua Guinea nuper inuentaquæ an sit insulaan pars continentis Australis incertû est”, questions whether New Guinea is part of the Southern continent or an island. On this map, it appears as a promontory, but in later editions Ortelius corrects this, and shows it as an island.

“In the course of his ‘Theatrum’ he produced two different world and maps of America, those of 1570 and 1587, and in both cases was so undecided about the New Guinea question that he depicted it as an island on [his first] world map, and as part of Terra Australis on [his first map of] America. On all four maps he accompanied the region with a disclaimer stating that it was not known whether New Guinea was connected to Terra Australis or not. Yet only two years after the second set, he created a map which, despite focusing on the problem more than any map had, correctly shows it as an island, modified in shape, and with no legend qualifying his choice of insularity. Something had made him considerably more confident of its insularity in the two years that had elapsed since 1587” (Suarez).

Like Mercator before him, Ortelius includes the mythical coastal kingdom of “Beach” on a promontory, superficially similar to what would be known as Cape York on the northern coast of Australia, of the vast south land of “Terra Australis”. According to Suarez, the “error can be traced to the 1532 ‘Novus Orbis’ of Huttich, which was published in Paris with the map of Fine, and in Basle with the map of Münster/Holbein. This volume contained the text of Marco Polo’s journey, but it mistakenly corrupts Polo’s “LOchac” to “Boeach”, which in turn was shortened to “Beach””. An error Mercator duplicated on this on his large world map of 1569, and which persisted on maps, well into the 1600s.

ORTELIUS, Abraham

Americae Sive Novi Orbis, Nova Descriptio.

Publication Antwerp, Christopher Plantin, 1588.

Description

Double-page engraved map, Spanish text on verso, browned, waterstained.

Dimensions

440 by 435mm (17.25 by 17.25 inches).

References

Burden, ‘The Mapping of North America’, 1996, 64; Clancy, ‘The Mapping of Terra Australis’, 1995, 4.1; Imhof ‘The Production of Ortelius Atlases by Christopher Plantin’, in ‘Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas: Essays Commemorating the Quadricentennial of his Death 1598-1998’, page 88; Van den Broecke, ‘Ortelius Atlas Maps: An Illustrated Guide’, 2011, 11.1, 1588S5.

Abraham Ortelius’s map of the Americas is based on Gerard Mercator’s revolutionary wall map of the world (1569) printed on 21 sheets. However, he has definitely asserted his own authorship for this masterly reduction by signing his name to it, as author, engraver and holder of the privilege for its publication for the next ten years, lower right: “Cum Privilegio decennali Ab. Ortelius delineab et excudeb. 1587”. This is only the third map that Ortelius would inscribe in such a way.

The map here is in its third and final state with the coastline of South America corrected. Of particular interest to us now, is: the addition of the Solomon Islands, discovered by Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña y Neira (1542 – 1595) in February of 1568, for the first time on any published map; the appearance of “Terra Australis” as a vast and entirely separate southern landmass; proof of which has been provided by the discoveries of Magellan, which are recorded on the map, as “Fretum Magellanicum” – the Straits of Magellan – separating the tip of South America from “Terra Australis”. However, New Guinea is shown as a promontory, something which Ortelius would debate in his maps, and eventually correct, showing it as an island in subsequent issues.

ORTELIUS, Abraham

Maris Pacifici, (quod vulgo Mar del Zur). Cum regionibus circumiacentibus, insulisque in eodem passim sparsis, novissima description.

Publication

Antwerp, Jan Baptist Vrients, 1609.

Description

Double-page engraved map, with contemporary hand-colour in full, Latin text on verso.

Dimensions

475 by 550mm (18.75 by 21.75 inches).

References

Burden, ‘The Mapping of North America’, 1996, 74; Van den Broecke, ‘Ortelius Atlas Maps: An Illustrated Guide’, 2011, 12.1 1609L6; Wagner, ‘Cartography of the northwest coast of America to the year 1800’, 1937.

This, the first printed map to focus on the Pacific Ocean, is the “most important sixteenth-century cartographic statement of the considerable Spanish contribution to exploration of the southern seas. Following the initial circumnavigation in 1519-22 by Magellan’s ship ‘Victoria’, Spaniards such as Mendana and Quiros sought the east coast of Terra Australis” (Clancy).

Indeed, the ‘Victoria’ features large in this beautiful map, and she has something to say, which appears in a caption beneath her portrait: “Prima ego velivovis ambivi cursibus Orbem, Magellane novo te duce ducta freto. Ambivi, meritoque vocor VICTORIA: sunt mî Vela, alæ; precium, gloria: pugna mare” - I was the first to sail around the world by means of sails, and carried you, Magellan, leader, first through the straits. I sailed around the world, therefore I am justly called Victoria (Victory), my sails were my wings, my prize was glory, my fight was with the sea.

As with his map of the Americas, Ortelius has ostentatiously signed his name to it, in a magnificent dedicatory cartouche to the honourable Lord Nicolaus Roccoxius, patrician of Antwerp, and senator of that city, lower left: “Abrahamus Ortelius Regiæ Mts. geographus sub. merito dedicabat. 1589” - Abraham Ortelius, geographer of his royal Majesty because of merit, has dedicated [this map] in 1589”. And proclaimed his privilege to publish it for ten years, lower right: “Cum privilegiis Imp. & Reg. Maiestatum, nec non Cancellariæ Brabantiæ, ad decennium” - with privileges of the imperial and royal Majesties, as well as of the Brabant council, for a period of ten years.

This is only the third map that Ortelius would inscribe in such a way. “Ortelius took pride in the practice of crediting his maps’ authors, whose names often appear in the dedicating cartouche. But here he credits only himself. The map is probably his own composite of data from various sources. Additional fuel to the mystery surrounding this map lies in its depiction of New Guinea. Although New Guinea had been discovered possibly as early as 1511, the question of whether it was an island or part of Terra Australis remained unanswered until Torres’s incredible voyage of 1605. As his discovery was concealed and officially forgotten, it remained an enigma until the first voyage of James Cook” (Suarez).

The present example is the first state of the map, first published by Christopher Plantin in 1589, in general, the map based upon Gerard Mercator’s world map of 1569, with details from 25 Portuguese manuscript maps of Bartolomeo de Lasso which Plancius obtained and later used for his own world map. Ortelius shows the Moluccas and the Philippines, already the site of considerable Dutch activity and a misshapen Japan. An odd ‘Isla de Plata’ appears above Japan, which appears in its ‘turtleshape’ configuration for the first time, derived from the 1568 manuscript of Vaz Dourado. Guam (’Isla de Ladrones’) is shown. The Solomons, or Melanesia, are located, as are some of the islands of Micronesia.