The Discovery of the North Coast of South America According to an Anonymous Map in the British Museum Author(s): J. Denucé Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jul., 1910), pp. 65-80 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1777655 Accessed: 21-06-2016 10:04 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal This content downloaded from 128.111.121.42 on Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:04:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA. 65 whale fishery is depressing. Only one right whale was sighted from the Arctic during two seasons. In 1907, with eight steamers, the take was only three whales, yielding 97 tons of blubber and 32 cwt. of bone. One ship, the Windward, was lost and became a total wreck at the Cary islands. One is glad to hear that the good old Morning is still in being. The whalers now have to take out a licence from the Canadian Government. THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA ACCORDING TO AN ANONYMOUS MAP IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.' By Dr. J. DENUOE. THE cartography of South America, as of the rest of the continent, dates from the year 1500 with the map of the world by Juan de la Cosa, the pilot of Christopher Columbus. It is generally admitted that this document is based upon the explora- tions of Vicente Yanez Pinzon and of Diego de Lepe. The author, in point of fact, was well acquainted with the American coast from Cape San Roque to the mouth of the Orinoco, and there he commenced observations of his own in the course of Hojeda's expedition in 1499. Thirty years later we come across another map issued by official Spanish cosmographers; this is the map of the world of Diego Ribeiro, of the year 1529. This pilot gives information to the effect that the coast between the Rio Dulco (Orinoco) and Cape San Roque, after having been travelled along once or twice since the discovery of the New World, was not further known to Spanish navigators.t This would lead to the belief that the Seville Cartographical Service, which was specially charg3d with preparing and preserving a model chart, or " padron real," knew only of the discoveries of Pinzon and Lepe. These two captains had furnished to Andres de Morales, map-maker of Seville, information for the construction of a map which he had prepared of the region in question, and which had probably served as a model for Ribeiro. Now, the outline and nomenclature of the map of 1529 differ very markedly from those of Juan de la Cosa's map, and it is evident that Ribeiro borrowed from other sources. Be the declaration of the royal cosmographer whom we have just named what it may, and the prototypes which he may have had before him, it is clear that the Hydrographic Service at the Casa de Contratacion of Seville ignored or took no notice of some very good maps at the command of travellers, such as the portulans of Freducci, Reinel, Maggiolo, etc., which were derived in part from Spanish mcdels. One would think that the Casa would have made a selection from the sometimes contradictory information upon the subject of new explorations; the study of the above-mentioned charts, and notably of that which we now intend to examine, shows, however, that the authors of the " padron real" often preferred the information of later travellers whose memoranda are not always handed down to us, to the data derived from the first discoveries. In my ' Origines de la Cartographic portugaise' ~ I have referred to an anony- mous manuscript atlas of Italian composition which occurs in the Egerton Collection * Map, p. 128. t Orville A. Derby, 'A Costa Nordete do Brasil na Cartographia Antiga' (Extrahido do Livro do Tricentenario do Ceara) (Ceara, 1903), p. 8; ' The North-East Coast of Brazil in Ancient Cartography,' from Science, N.S., vol. 19, 1904, p. 681. t Page 80. NO. I.-JULY, 1910.] F This content downloaded from 128.111.121.42 on Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:04:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 66 THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA (No. 2803) at the British Museum. It comprises twenty maps, the greater number referring to Europe, and seven or eight treating of the other continents. According to the catalogue of the office manuscripts, the date of the atlas is 1508,* but H. Harrissc, misled by the ephemeris-table at the end of the volume, which commences with the year 1507, assigns a date prior to 1507.t This great authority has published the part of it dealing with Newfoundland, while the small map of the world on the first page of the manuscript has been reproduced by me in the aforesaid work. The representation of America which I here give on nearly the original scale, oc:upies in the Collection the leaves 7 verso, 8 recto, and 9 verso, and is the part of the atlas devoted to Spanish discoveries in the New WVorld. There is wanting a scale of latitudes and longitudes. Approximately the South American continent extends in it from 10? S. to the latitude of Cuba, about 23? N.- that is to say, to the point where the voyage of Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis in 1509 termlinated. On the other hand, the absence of Florida and the i,thmus of Panama points to the year 1513 as the date of completion of the work. It should be noted, however, that in the small map of the world in the same atlas, the isthmus of Panama is roughly delineated. T''he two margins of this map representing Eastern Asia and Western America are not concordant; further, a still more indefinite Gulf of Mexico lends support to the hypothesis that this sheet may have undergone a modification afterwards. Comlparison with the maps of the epoch which are preservel shows, that a certain relationship exists between the portulan of America in the B:itish Museum and those of Freducci :: (1514-15) and the Reinels of Paris (1516), as well as the first Spanish map of the New World published-that is to say, the outline in certain exemplars of the first decade of the "REebus Oceanicis " of Peter Martyr (1511-12). The most striking feature of the London map is the p.rofusion and originality of the nomenclature, although the spelling is bad and highly Italianized. Com- paring it with the original documents we possess bearing upon the earliest explorations of the South American continent, the peculiar impression which the Egerton-work at first sighlt p:roduces disappears, and one comes to regard it as extremely interesting, unique indeed, as regards certain parts represented in it. * ' Catalogue,' p. 552: Portolano, 1508. " The tables are calculated from 1508 onwards, and the maps were evidently executed about that date, probably at Naples. The volume appears to be a copy of one of the carly portolani of Visconti Maggiolo of Genoa, and is the earliest Italian portulano now known which shows the North Atlantic coast of America. Vellum, 11 x 8- inches." We know that Maggiolo is the author of a collection of portulans belonging to the year 1511, containing a map of the world in which America is represented. According to the description of it left to us by d'Avezac (' Annales dc Voyages,' p. 30. Paris, 1870, Juillet), it is impossible to identify MIaggiolo as the author of the Egerton atlas. The only names and inscriptions ~Yhich refer to the part of America concerning us are the following: Coba, Izabella, Terra trovata per Colombo de Rey de Spania, Cabo de Sta croce de Rey de portugall, Terra de Brazille. There is talk of another atlas composed of four maps of Maggiolo of the year 1512 in Mario Longhena, ' Atlanti e carte nautiche dal secolo XIV. al XVII. conservati nella Biblioteca e nell' Archivio di Parma.' Congr. S. Ital. Progr. Sc. Parma, 1907. Extract from Archivo Storico per Ie Provincie Parmiense. New Series, vol. 7, p. 30. The first leaf shows oa the margin of the map a small part of the "'Tera de brazile," but furnishes no information about the New World. ' ' Decouverte et evolution cartographique de Terre-Neuve ct des pays circoneoi- Fins, 1497-1501-1769,' p. 70. Paris-London, 1900. ; E. Casanova, 'La Carta nautica di Conte Ottomanno Preducci.' Pubblic. R. instituto studi sup. Firenze. Sez. filos. e filol., 1894. This content downloaded from 128.111.121.42 on Tue, 21 Jun 2016 10:04:01 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ACCORDING TO AN ANONYMOUS MAP IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 67 In order to get a clear idea upon the subject, let us here mention the principal sources of which the author has availed himself. First of all, he has utilized the map of the world of Juan de la Cosa; secondly, the anonymous portulans Nos.