Mercator RevisitedCartography in the Age of Discovery

Soetkin Vervust, Bart Ooghe, Philippe De Maeyer (eds.)

Soetkin Vervust, Bart Ooghe, Philippe D

e Maeyer (eds.)

Mercator Revisited - Conference Proceedings

Internationa

l conference - Sint-Nikla

as, Belg

ium

25-28 April 2012International conference - Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

Conference Proceedings

Proceedings of the International Conference Mercator Revisited

Sint-Niklaas - Belgium

Cover Design: Wim Van Roy

Book Design: Soetkin Vervust

Print: University press, Zelzate, www.universitypress.be

ISBN: 978-94-6197036-7

No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher, the Editors and Authors for any in-

jury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negli-

gence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, in-

structions or ideas contained in the material herein. The Publisher and the Editors

do not necessarily endorse the ideas held, or views expressed by the Authors of

the material contained in this publication. Authors are responsible for their input.

All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other-

wise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Preface

This book comprises the proceedings of the International Conference

“Mercator Revisited – Cartography in the Age of Discovery”, held in Sint-

Niklaas, Belgium on April 25-28, 2012.

The conference focuses on the place of cartography in general and of Mer-

cator in specific in the 16th century. The Age of Discovery presented map-

makers with an unprecedented opportunity and a scientific obligation to

collect, record and categorize the world ‘as it was’. The greatest mapmak-

ers of the era were scientists, craftsmen and humanists combined, influ-

enced by international politics, science and philosophy. Their maps not on-

ly reflect the factual discoveries of the time but also the environments

within which the maps were produced. In celebration of the 500th anniver-

sary of the birth of Gerard Mercator, the conference aims at giving a fresh

impetus to the study of his work and of the cartography of his time.

This book is organized into three parts, containing three full papers, 17 ab-

stracts and four abstracts of the full papers that are selected for publication

in The Cartographic Journal, based on an extensive peer-review by mem-

bers of the Program Committee.

We would like to thank the many people who helped to make this confer-

ence a success. We owe special thanks to Helga Vermeulen, Nathalie Van

Nuffel and Karen De Coene for their great help in organizing the confer-

ence, to Wim Van Roy for his excellent design skills and to Steven De

Vriese for his technological expertise. Further, we would like to thank our

partners and sponsors for their financial or material support. These include

the Heritage Cell Waasland, Ghent University, the Faculty of Sciences, the

City Museum of Sint-Niklaas, the Flemish Government, the International

Cartographic association (ICA), the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO)

and the Koninklijke Oudheidkundige Kring van het Land van Waas

(KOKW). Finally, we would like to thank the members of the Program

Committee for carefully reviewing the contributions and all those who

submitted their work and participated in “Mercator Revisited – Cartogra-

phy in the Age of Discovery”.

Ghent, Belgium

April 2012

Soetkin Vervust, Bart Ooghe and Philippe De Maeyer

Program Committee

Wouter Bracke, Royal Library of Belgium (Belgium)

Frank Canters, Free University of Brussels (Belgium)

Karen De Coene, Ghent University (Belgium)

Philippe De Maeyer, Ghent University (Belgium)

Joost Depuydt, FelixArchief / City Archives Antwerp (Belgium)

Elri Liebenberg, University of South Africa (South Africa)

Evangelos Livieratos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)

Bart Ooghe, Heritage Cell Waasland (Belgium)

Hélène Richard, Bibliothèque nationale de France (France)

Peter van der Krogt, Universiteit Utrecht (The Netherlands)

Soetkin Vervust, Ghent University (Belgium)

Local Organizing Committee

Karen De Coene, Philippe De Maeyer, Nathalie Van Nuffel, Helga Ver-

meulen, Soetkin Vervust

Ghent University (Belgium)

Bart Ooghe, Heritage Cell Waasland (Belgium)

Table of contents

Preface ........................................................................................................ 3

Table of contents ........................................................................................ 7

Full papers

Cornelis Van Wytfliet: The Age of Discovery and Colonization

revisited ..................................................................................................... 13 Stanislas De Peuter

A surveying symbol connects G. Mercator and J. van Deventer ......... 53 Eric Leenders, Jan De Graeve

Map as metaphor ..................................................................................... 69 Inge Panneels

Abstracts

Cartographic typography: Gerard Mercator’s contribution .............. 85 Maria Graciela Borozuki

The world map by Gerard Mercator (1569) in the shape of an atlas

revisited ..................................................................................................... 87 Sjoerd de Meer

Mercator’s magnetic work, recalculated ............................................... 88 Hugo Decleir

Secret Maps of Early Modern Spain ...................................................... 90 Benjamin Ehlers

Mapping American History in The Tempest......................................... 92 David Evans

A tenacious Atlantic legend. From the so-called "Flemish Islands" to

the imaginary island "Flanders" ............................................................ 93 John Everaert

Squaring the circle: how Mercator did it in 1569 ................................. 94 Joaquim Alves Gaspar

The Far East in the Mercator's World map in 1569 ............................. 95 Koji Hasegawa

The sale of atlases by the Antwerp Plantin Press .................................. 96 Dirk Imhof

Cartesius: one graphical geoportal combines four types of institutions

for Belgium and Africa ............................................................................ 98 Rink Kruk, B. Pigeon, W. Bracke, M. Carnier, L. Verachten, B. Verschueren,

D. Baudet, D. Van Hassel, M. Fernandez, P. Verheyen, G. Gryseels, K. Velle,

P. Lefèvre, I. Vanden Berghe

The pre-history of the Mercator projection ........................................ 100 Henrique Leitao, Joaquin Alves Gaspar and J. Filipe Queiró

The influence of Gerard Mercator on the work of Michiel Coignet

(1549-1623) ............................................................................................. 101 Ad Meskens

A GIS analysis of the 1633 planning of Venetian guardposts on Crete

(Greece) ................................................................................................... 102 Steven Soetens, C. Geerdink, E. Barbetsea and R. Verhagen

Gerhard Mercator and Wolfgang Lazius - A comparative analysis . 104 Petra Svatek

The ‘Digital Thematic Deconstruction’ of 16th-century urban maps106 Bram Vannieuwenhuyze

Reframing Mercator’s Orbis Imago, the double cordiform world map

of 1538 ..................................................................................................... 108 Ruth Watson

Modern edition of texts and maps of the Cadastral Land Survey of

Swedish Pomerania 1692-1709 on the internet with help of WebGIS

and Content Management Systems ...................................................... 110 Reinhard Zölitz

Abstracts of full papers appearing in The Cartographic Journal

Between the Cross and Crescent: Countries Bordering the Ottoman

Empire in the Eyes of Dutch ................................................................. 113 Mirela Altic

A ‘Devious Course’: Projecting Toleration on Mercator’s ‘Map of the

World’, 1569 ........................................................................................... 115 Jerry Brotton

Geographical names on Mercator's maps of Croatia ......................... 116 Josip Faričić, Damir Magaš and Lena Mirošević

Digital Representation of Historical Globes: Methods to Make 3D and

Semi-3D Models of 16th Century Mercator Globes ........................... 117 Cornelis Stal, Alain De Wulf, Karen De Coene, Philippe De Maeyer, Timothy

Nuttens, Thérèse Ongena

Full Papers

13

Cornelis Van Wytfliet: The Age of Discovery and Colonization revisited

Stanislas De Peuter Independent scholar, Belgium

stanislas.depeuter@gmail.com

“Von einem, der daheim blieb, die (Neue) Welt zu entdecken”1

1 The man and his book

The first goal of this paper is to present the man, his book and the maps.

Little is known about this Flemish cartographer of the 16th century. It has

been widely reported that Cornelis van Wytfliet (hereafter called Wytfliet)

was an advocate to become Geography Secretary of the Council of Brabant

during the mid-16th century. As the subtitle suggests he never visited the

New World. His work Descriptionis Ptolemaicae augmentum sive

Occidentis notitia brevis commentario, published in Leuven in 1597 as a

supplement to Ptolemy’s Geographia, was the first atlas devoted exclusive-

ly to the New World. This book includes 19 maps: one world map and 18

regional maps, all of which were specially engraved for this edition. Many

of Wytfliet's maps are the first or among the earliest of specific regions of

North and South America. In line with contemporary tradition, the accom-

panying text describes the geography, natural history and ethnography of

the entire continent. Based on decades of expeditions, the atlas provides

historical snatches of so many well-known voyages by world famous ex-

plorers, as well as of the second level of discoverers such as Diego Veláz-

1 Paraphrase used by Günther Wesel as title for his book on Sebastian Münster (Wesel (2004): “one who stayed home to discover the New World.”)

14

quez de Cuéllar, Pedro de Valdivia, Gaspar Corte-Real, Ponce de Léon or

Pedro Arias Dávila. This brings us to the second and more ambitious ob-

jective of this review as the atlas provides an ideal opportunity to review

prime cartographic information by surfing on the early European voyages

leading to discovery and early colonization both North and South. Let’s

follow our guide Cornelis Wytfliet and revisit with him some of the places

and events which shaped our world.

(Toponyms named on the maps of the Atlas are mentioned in italics in this

commentary.)

2 Wytfliet & Metellus or Metellus & Wytfliet?

There is some controversy about the authenticity of the Wytfliet maps as

his maps and those of Metellus are very similar, on many points identical.

In 1588 Acosta, a Spanish missionary and cartographer, published De

Natura Nova Orbis (Salamanca). The maps in this work were attributed to

Johannes Matalius Metellus (Jean Matal, maybe born in Leuven in 1520).

In the America sive Novis Orbis version of 1600, Metellus is explicitly

named as the cartographer of these maps. As Metellus also died in 1597,

the work was finished by Conrad Loew, pseudonym for Matthias Quad.

Both Wytfliet and Metellus worked in Leuven. The discussion may lead to

the conclusion, that not Wytfliet, but Metellus was the original cartogra-

pher of the America maps. So, was Metellus indeed the cartographer of

the Wytfliet maps? We do not know. Both atlases contain 19 maps, of

which 18 are more or less identical. Concerning the 19th map: where

Wytfliet shows Yucatan, which was in later editions replaced by four small

views of Asian countries, Metellus chose for a smaller version of Ortelius’

map of the Pacific. The maps by Metellus are much rarer (and maybe fin-

er?) than those of Wytfliet. The size of the Metellus maps is somewhat

smaller (18 x 23 cm) than the size used by Wytfliet (23 x 29 cm).

3 Content, sources and editions

The title Descriptionis Ptolemaicae augmentum (“Descriptionis”) sug-

gests that Wytfliet marketed his study as a supplement to Ptolemy's Cos-

mography, however, based on new knowledge. Still, many maps (in par-

ticular those of North America) are expressions of (mythical) fantasy and

don’t pass the reality test which will be later illustrated in this article. Log-

ically, since around 1600 European knowledge of Central and South

15

America was much more accurate than of North America. Where the earli-

est expeditions were made to discover the entire continent, commercial

reasons made the stakeholders chose for explorations of Central and South

America; the exploration of the North, therefore, lagged behind more than

50 years. The first part of the Descriptionis contains an historical survey

starting from the discovery of America by Columbus up to 1540 (and thus

including the explorations by, inter alia, Caboto, Pizarro, Verrazano, Car-

tier and others). Wytfliet goes on to describe geography and natural history

of the different regions from Tierra del Fuego up to Alaska and Canada.

The editions from 1605 onwards contain a second part on the East Indies.

In addition to the large double-page maps there are also four small maps

on one double-page sheet in Magini's supplement showing smaller maps of

the East Indies, Japan, China and the Philippines, replacing, as mentioned,

the Yucatan map, thus keeping the total number of maps to 19. The text by

Giovanni Antonio Magini (1555 – 1617) and others deal with the discov-

ery of Cape of Good Hope, India, Indonesia, and Japan, followed by a ge-

ographical description of these countries. An additional third part, which

first appeared in the 1607 edition, includes descriptive material based on

letters from Jesuit missionaries and a discussion about the conversion of

natives of the East Indies and Far East!

Wytfliet drew upon a variety of sources2, including Gerhard Mercator's

large world map of 1569, Peter Plancius' world map of 1592, regional

maps by Ortelius and of de Jode as well as several manuscript maps and

travel accounts by so many conquerors to which he had access. The truth is

that his atlas covers an entire continent and this, more than 100 years after

Spain’s first touchdown in the West Indies and also decades after many

subsequent discoveries, so that the sources to and the quality of the maps

are very diverse. Wytfliet consulted a wide range of European authors, in-

cluding Cieza de León (Crónica de Perú, 1553), Hakluyt (Principall Navi-

gations, 1589), de Bry (America, 1590), Acosta (Historia natural y moral

de las India, 1590) and probably also Ramusio’s Navigationi, Vol III

(1556) and Laudonnière’s Histoire notable de la Floride (1586). Some of

his sources will be specifically mentioned at the discussion of the maps.

Looking at Wytfliet, one cannot but stop at Ortelius. Apart from his gen-

eral (world & continental) maps, the Antwerp scholar had already pub-

lished the following regional maps on the Americas: Hispania nova, 1579,

2 Skelton provides an interesting analysis of the sources.

16

vdB 133; Culiacanae-Hispaniolae-Cuba, 1579, vdB 14, and; Peruviae-La

Florida-Gustecan, 1584, vdB 15. Now and then this article will reflect

back to Ortelius’ work. For extensive information on the Ortelius’ maps of

America, please read the excellent contribution of Dennis Reinhartz4.

Wytfliet dedicated his work to Felipe III (14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621),

King of Spain and Portugal (1598-1621), and of course, at that moment

Spanish ruler of the Southern Netherlands. The atlas first appeared in 1597

(a rarity to be found) under the imprint of Johann Bogard5. With the text

reset, it was reissued later the same year. The work was evidently popular

as two subsequent Latin editions appeared in 1598 (under Gerard Rivius)

and 1603 (first Douai edition by François Fabri who continued issuing var-

ious editions with Latin and French texts) and it was then translated into

French (“Histoire universelle des Indes Occidentales”) to be combined

with the work of Magini and others and first published in 1605. Further

editions of this compilation appeared in 1607 and 1611. The last edition of

Wytfliet's atlas was published in Arnhem, where Jan Jansz. issued a French

edition in 1615. Shirley mentions that an 1884 catalogue specifically de-

scribes an English edition from 1597, but he added that no trace had al-

ready come to light. It is no surprise that the interest in Wytfliet’s supple-

ment to Ptolemy quickly waned after his death when early 17th century the

Dutch, English and French (and indeed a few other nations) conquered

(and thus gathered more information) on the New World.

4. Maps to rediscover the present on the basis of the past

The nineteen folio maps of the American continent (with the one exception

as mentioned above) appeared in all of the Latin and French editions. As

the full title of the work suggests, Wytfliet provides a short commentary to

each map. They are the (or one of the) earliest regional maps of this conti-

nent and include new geographic information. All put next to each other

they present a balanced overview of almost the entire Continent from south

3 The “vdB” numbering in this article refers to the methodology of Marcel van den Broecke used in his work “Ortelius Atlas Maps”, see selected bibliography. 4 In van den Broecke, M.P.R., et al., Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas, Essays commemorating the Quadricentenial of his Death (1598 – 1998), see selected bib-liography. 5 Filipis Iohannis Bogardi’s name is mentioned at the bottom of the title page.

17

to north: the most important region missing is the one between Plata and

Tierra del Fuego. For obvious reasons, a long stretch of the coast of North

Canada is also missing6. It goes without saying that many place names in

the Descriptiones are the result of misallocation, misinterpretation or even

pure fantasy. But this makes this historical investigation the more fascinat-

ing. Let’s serve through the “conquista” and other colonization programs!

Please note that founding dates and credits are often disputable. In the or-

der of the 1597 edition, the atlas contains the following maps:

4.1 Utriusque hemispherii delineatio

The first map of the atlas is a double-hemisphere world map, which is

based (in reduced format) on Rumold Mercator's influential map of 1587.

Atlas, a Titan in Greek mythology, bears the two hemispheres. The shape

of the American continent is similar to de Bry’s 1596 version, published in

Grand Voyages7. The presentation of the world8 through a double-

hemisphere was not novel: it was used before inter alia by Tramezino

(1554), Ruscelli (1561), Jost Amman (1564), Benito Arias (Montano)

(1572), Simon Girault (1592), Jode (1593), Jodocus Hondius (1592 and

1595), Plancius (1590, 1594 and 1596).

4.2 Chica9 sive patagonica et australis terra

This engraving is particularly noteworthy in combining two maps, one of

the Straits of Magellan and a Southern Hemisphere projection showing the

supposed full extent of Austraelis Terre Pars. Wytfliet may be indebted to

Plancius for his polar projection. In his commentary on these maps

Wytfliet refers to the circumnavigations of Fernão Magalhães and Thomas

6 Norwegian Roald Amundsen was the first to make a Northwest Passage in 1903-1906. 7 Based on Benzoni's travels in the New World between 1541 and 1556. 8 The 16th century cartographers were very inspirational in the formal presentation of world mapping: fan-shape (Ruysch, 1507), in gores (Mercator 1541), cordiform or heart-shaped (Ortelius 1564), the foolscap (de Gourmont, 1575) and of course the well known oval forms. 9 Chica is another name for Patagonia. The name’s origin is unclear: Joan de Chica, a Spanish soldier, was killed by the natives in what is now Chilean Patago-nia in 1558 while fighting for Governor Francisco de Villagrán. Another theory states that it is an incorrect spelling of the word "Chile", in Francesco Ghisolfo's 1562 Atlante Nautico.

18

Cavendish. Magalhães’ fleet (see illustration of his flagship Victoria) ar-

rived on 31 March 1520 at a natural harbour which he called B. de S. Jul-

ian where his fleet overwintered10. At the end of August 1520 Magalhães

chose to sail again; unfortunately, too early, so that he had to bunker again

at the mouth of R. de S. Crus. The sailors also met the native people who

were described by Antonio Pigafetta11 as giants, and called them Patagoni-

ans, meaning "Big Feet. The map illustration is of Magalhães' ship, the

Victoria. Remarkable is the mention of Philipopolis12, the Spanish settle-

ment founded in March 1584 by Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and part of

Spain's measures to prevent a repeat of Drake's 1578 entry into the Pacific

via the Strait. It started with around 300 settlers, but conditions were harsh

and local vegetation was sparse. This attempt to colonize the shores of the

Strait ended tragically when the settlers starved or froze to death. When the

next English navigator, Thomas Cavendish13 landed at the site in 1587, he

found only ruins of the settlement. He renamed the place Port Famine

which got subsequently translated into Spanish as Puerto Hambre or Puer-

to del Hambre, and these names are still in use. Puerto Hambre (60 km

south of Punta Arenas14) lies halfway between the South Pole and Chile's

northern border with Peru. Since Chile claims its Antarctic territories ex-

tending all the way to the pole, this point is also considered to be the geo-

graphical centre of Chile!

The lower part of the map is shown on a polar projection, with Terra

Australis a very large landmass made up of four peninsulas that reach to-

wards Nova Guinea and Africa. This early engraving supports the late 16 th

century theory that such continent existed in the Southern Hemisphere.

This hypothetical continent appeared on some maps for approximately two

hundred years until it was finally proven false by the voyage of James

Cook in 1769. The circular inset of Terra Australis was copied from

Plancius’ planisphere map of 1592. The following passage is to be found

in the Descriptiones: "The Australis Terra is the most southern of all

lands; it is separated from New Guinea by a narrow strait; its shores are

10 … and where an unsuccessful mutiny by two of his captains broke out. In June 1578 Francis Drake also overwintered at this place. 11 … and one of the 18 survivors out of the approximately 240 adventurers. 12 The city of Rey Don Felipe, Philipopolis is not indicated on the Mercator-Hondius map of the Magellan Straits. 13 Later, Cavendish captured or sank 9 Spanish ships and looted fresh supplies along the Chilean coast. 14 where a replica of the Victoria can be visited.

19

hitherto but little known, since, after one voyage and another, that route

has been deserted, and seldom is the country visited unless when sailors

are driven there by storms. The Australis Terra begins at two or three de-

grees from the equator, and is maintained by some to be of so great an ex-

tent that if it were thoroughly explored it would be regarded as a fifth part

of the world." This quote is so vague and suppositious that it would scarce-

ly be worth mentioning, were it not for the singular mention of the narrow

strait separating Australis Terra from New Guinea (now known as the

Torres Strait15); for at this time Torres had not yet sailed through the straits,

nor was the fact of his venture known to the world until the end of the 18th

century, when Dalrymple discovered his report amongst the archives of

Manila, and did justice to his memory. In 1981 the Solomon Islands issued

a mini-sheet of four stamps which included an extract of this chart by

Wytfliet showing that the separation of New Guinea and Australia was al-

ready known more than ten years before the voyages of Janszoon, Quirós,

and de Torres. A number of authors, such as Schilder, McIntyre Major and

Collingridge also discuss this map at length and point to the possibility that

Australia had already been “discovered” in the 16th century...

4.3 Chili provincia amplissima

This map covers most of Chile from Camana (now Calama) in the north to

unnamed Chiloé island in the south and the Andes in the west with Santia-

go de Chile prominently figuring in the middle of the map. Santiago was

founded by Pedro de Valdivia on 12 February 1541 as Santiago del Nuevo

Extremo, which is an homage to Saint James16 and to the region of Extre-

madura, Valdivia's birth place in Spain. The city of Atacama - as some

other places on this map - was not “relocated”, but it is the current name of

the region having Copiapo as capital. The large island in the south is

Chiloé Island (8.394 km²), the second largest island in Chile, only after the

jointly administered Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Just north of it lies

Canete, a town very close to the epicenter of the, to date, most powerful

earthquake ever recorded, rating 9.5 on the Richter scale, on 22 May 1960.

Finally, in the West, S. Nabor and S. Felix, or the Islas de los

15 Luís Vaz de Torres (c. 1565 – c. 1607) was a maritime explorer serving the Spanish Crown, noted for the first recorded navigation of the strait which sepa-rates the continent of Australia from the island of New Guinea, and which now bears his name (Torres Strait). 16 Saint James is Santiago in Spanish.

20

Desventurados, which Juan Fernández (c. 1536 – c. 1604) discovered in

1574.

4.4 Plata americae provincia

This map opens up the unnamed La Plata Delta, with its magic tributaries

of Parana and Uruguay rivers (as Rio Lepeti), now western border of Uru-

guay. Wytfliet shows us Central and Northern Argentina (bordering the

Andes and Parte de Chili), Paraguay, Uruguay and Southern Brazil. The

Rio de la Plata is intrinsically linked to the history of the southern discov-

eries: it was first explored by Europeans in 1516, when the Spanish navi-

gator Juan Díaz de Solís traversed it during his search for a passage be-

tween the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Magalhães briefly17

explored

the estuary in 1520 before his expedition continued its circumnavigation.

Italian Sebastiano Caboto made a detailed study of the Río de la Plata and

explored the Paraná and Uruguay rivers between 1526 and 1529. He as-

cended the Paraná as far as the present-day city of Asunción, and also ex-

plored up the Paraguay River. Trading there with the Guaraní, Caboto ac-

quired silver trinkets, and these objects gave rise to the name Río de la

Plata, "river of silver". He also established a fort called San Salvador at the

confluence of the Uruguay and the Río San Salvador. This was the first

Spanish settlement in modern-day Uruguay. The first European colony

was actually Buenos Aires, founded by Pedro de Mendoza on 2 February

1536. However, it was quickly abandoned, to be re-founded by Juan de

Garay on 11 June 1580. The failure to establish a settlement on the estuary

led to explorations upriver and the founding of Asunción in 1537. Howev-

er, Wytfliet incorrectly shows us Assumption on the Uruguay and not

where it should be (i.e. on the Paraguay River, affluent of the Parana)!

Moreover, the entire water system as drawn is inaccurate. The area was

later visited by Francis Drake's fleet in 1578, during the early stages of his

circumnavigation. Many other place names on this map were not retracea-

ble such as S. Espirito (near Buenos Aires?), Ningatas, San Fransisco and

Talabora. However, the map covers the southern parts of Brazil as well as

the country of Uruguay. Let’s visit some interesting places on this intri-

guing map:

- Y. de S. Vincente, at the far east: part of greater Sao Paolo; see dis-

cussion of the Brasilia map;

17 … and (initially) erroneously believing that this could be the passage to the Pa-cific.

21

- the large Y. de S. Catharina, now also the name of a state in the Fed-

eral Republic of Brazil, having its capital Florianopolis on the is-

land;

- C. de Santa Maria is not the famous Punta del Este but lies some 60

km north-eastwards on the Atlantic in a town called La Paloma,

Uruguay.

- inland, Cordaba (Córdoba), the second-largest city in Argentina af-

ter the federal capital Buenos Aires, with about 1.3 million inhabit-

ants according to the 2001 census. The city was founded on July 6,

1573 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, who named it after Córdoba,

Spain. It was one of the first Spanish colonial capitals of the region

that is now Argentina.

- Santa Ana, on the Parana River, now a forgotten place close to Re-

conquista.

- The town of Mepenes probably refers to an indigenous tribe living in

the current province of Corrientes, situated in the North-East of Ar-

gentina, so between the two rivers and is therefore somewhat mis-

placed.

- S. Miguel is the current town of San Miguel de Tucuman, also the

most important city of Northern Argentina. It was founded in 1565

by Diego de Villarroel during an expedition originating in Peru.

4.5 Peruani regni descriptio

This map also includes Bolivia, Ecuador18 and western Brazil. The region

was of particular interest since it was one of Spain's primary production

areas of gold and silver. Both the Maragnon (Maranon) and the

Paucarmayo (Ucayali) dominate the Peruvian Amazon water system,

which Wytfliet certainly must have known from Ortelius map19 (vdB 15).

Picora Provincia is now called Picota province. The map concentrates on

Inca land, as conquered by Francisco Pizarro (with de Soto) in 1531-1533

(cfr. decisive battle at Chamarra20, 1532) and shows many Inca and Span-

ish settlements. Peru = Pizarro land!

18 Equador claimed for a long time a large part of northern Peru (+/- 200.000 km³): this dispute was settled by the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro in 1942; after some more cross-border shootings the Protocol was confirmed in 1995. 19 Ortelius covered a larger area, also including the Isolas de Galapagos, which were discovered by Tomas de Bertanga in 1535. 20 After the battle of Cajamarca, Inca King Atahualpa was executed and his 10 year old wife became the mistress of Pizarro.

22

Inca sites:

- Cuzco: capital of the Inca Empire until conquered by Pizarro in

1533.

- Quito: Quito's origins date back to the first millennium, when the

“Quitu” tribe occupied this area. It was conquered by the Inca in

1462.

- Pachama21 (temple): Pacha Kamaq or “Earth-Maker” was consid-

ered the creator god by the people who lived in this part of Peru be-

fore the Inca conquest.

- Nasca: southern coastal town, name now applied to the Nazca cul-

ture that flourished in the area between 100 BC22 and 800 AD. They

were “responsible” for the so-called Nazca Lines.

- How about Machu Pichu? Not shown, as it was unknown by

Wytfliet and his contempories. The town was abandoned by the Inca

rulers in 1572. Although known locally, there is no record of the

Spanish having visited this remote city. It was unknown to the out-

side world until being brought to international attention in 1911 by

the American historian Hiram Bingham.

Spanish settlements:

- Guaiaquil: town at the Ecuadorian coast, founded because the Span-

ish were not satisfied with Quito; now the largest city in the country.

- Trujiilo: founded by Diego de Almagro23 on 6 December 1534, now

third largest city in Peru.

- Lima as “vel Reg. civitatis”: Pizarro founded the city in 1533 as his

new capital. In 1541 he was murdered in his palace there (in a failed

“coup d'etat” by Diego de Almagro II, son of Diego de Almagro)

and later buried in Lima Cathedral.

- Potosi: at the south end of the Titicaca lacus, founded in 1546 as the

silver mining town24 now in Bolivia.

21 Van Linschoten described the God Pachacama as “Schepper des Hemels ende der aerden” (Itinerario, page 223). 22 For the BBC viewers: “BC” means “Before Christ“ and “AD” means “anno domini” i.e. after birth of Christ. 23 He got in conflict with Pizarro, was subsequently allowed by the Spanish Crown to conquer Chile, but was afterwards executed by Pizarro in 1538. 24 The Spanish expression valer un potosí means “to be worth a fortune”.

23

Fig. 1: Peru

4.6 Brasilia

Wytfliet considered Brazil as an integrated part of South America, contrary

to certain other maps25.. This map shows most of Brazil with the mighty

Amazon River and its enormous delta. Top left lies Chirmos (Manaus) at

the confluence with the Rio Negro. The map focuses on the western coast-

line and its colonial settlements: Pernambuco (Recife?), Olinda and C. de

S. Augustino, which formed the centre of the short-lived Dutch colony26

25 Please check the Mercator-Hondius map of America Meridionalis (1606) show-ing a quasi separation of Brasilia from the rest of the continent through a water system running from the Amazon River in the north over a mythical lake to the Plata system in the south. This interpretation was not unique, and quite popular in Dutch cartography. 26 1624/1630 to 1661: at the Treaty of The Hague in that year the Dutch sold New Holland (as their part of Brasil was called) to the Portuguese.

24

ruled by Johan Maurits van Nassau27. Further to the south, lie all the key

coastal cities: Baia de todos los sanctos (Salvador or Bahia, first colonial

capital of Brazil), Spirit. Sanct. (Vila Velha?) at the end of the bay (pres-

ently the name of the province) and opposite the provincial capital Vitoria

on the island. Between Bahia and Vitoria lies Port. Seguro, or Safe Port:

this is the place! On 22 April 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral wrote and thus

initiated Portuguese history in Brazil when he landed at Terra de Vera

Cruz (not shown on the map, but presently part of Porto Seguro!). Further,

C. Frio, just north of Rio de Janeiro, the enormous bay of Ganabara

Lusitanis Janeiro (now part of Rio de Janeiro28) and Y. de S. Vincent, (San

Vicente, a dormitory city for Santos and part of the municipal area of Sao

Paolo). Several places in Portuguese Brazil (on this map and the Plata

map) were actually discovered/colonized by Spanish explorers may be ex-

plained by the fact that Portugal lost independence to Spain from 1580 un-

til 1640. This is also the moment to place a few comments on the Spanish-

Portuguese colonization rivalry: the 149429 Treaty of Tordesillas between

Spain and Portugal divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe be-

tween Spain (Castilla) and Portugal along a meridian 370 leagues (or 1.560

km) west of the Cabo Verde Islands. This line of demarcation was about

halfway between the Cabo Verde Islands (already Portuguese) and the is-

lands discovered by Cristoforo Colombo on his first voyage (claimed for

Spain), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola).

Remember that the race to the spices was fully open in 1494: in compari-

son, only in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias had rounded Cabo da Boa Esperança

for the Portuguese30. In hindsight the treaty provided legal grounds to the

Portuguese for a small tip (the “belly”, more or less until Rio de Janeiro) of

South America, which they had not even discovered at that point in time.

Only in 1500, Cabral “discovered” Brazil and claimed it for Portugal.

27 The Mauritshuis, his residence in Den Haag, witnesses of this period. 28 Portuguese Gaspar de Lemos was the first European to “discover” Guanabara Bay on January 1, 1502 (hence the name Rio de Janeiro, "January River"). Possi-bly, Amerigo Vespucci participated to this expedition. In 1555 French admiral Ni-colas Durand de Villegaignon occupied one of the islands in the bay. The city of Rio de Janeiro was founded by the Portuguese on March 1, 1565. 29 On 4 May 1493 the Spanish-born Pope Alexander VI had already decreed in the bull Inter caetera that all lands west and south of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands should belong to Spain. The Portuguese protest to this “unilateral” division of the world resulted in the Tordesillas Treaty. 30 A few years later, Vasco da Gama sailed for India and arrived at Calicut on 20 May 1498.

25

“Tordesillas” was primarily agreed upon to protect, both the New World

for the Spanish and the Eastern (read African and Atlantic island) spice

route to the Portuguese; but was it also intended to provide the Portuguese

with a legal claim for a (to be discovered) landmass in the south-west? Or,

did they already know? However, the forthcoming Portuguese entitlement

and colonization gradually went much further West than their piece allo-

cated by the Pope at Tordesillas. Finally, the 1750 Treaty of Madrid grant-

ed Portugal control (of even more) territory which it occupied in South

America.

4.7 Castilia aurifera cum vicinis provinciis

Fig. 2: Castilia

This map31 covers Colombia, Panama and parts of Venezuela and of Ecua-

dor (C de S. Fransisco), but also Aruba and part of Curaçao. In 1499, an

expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda, accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci,

visited the Venezuelan coast. The stilt houses in the area of Maracaibo

31 To be compared with the Jansonnius and Blaeu maps covering the same region.

26

lago reminded the latter of Venice, so he named the region "Veneziola",

which in contemporary Tuscan (Vespucci's native tongue) meant "little

Venice". The name acquired its current spelling as a result of Spanish in-

fluence, where the suffix -uela is used as a diminutive term. Nonetheless, a

different reason for the name comes up in the account of Martín Fernández

de Enciso, a member of Ojeda’s crew. In his work Summa de Geografía,

he states that they found an indigenous population who called themselves

the "Veneciuela," which suggests that the name "Venezuela" may have

evolved from the native word.

Several important Spanish colonial settlements are named and located, in-

cluding Panama City (founded on 15 August 1519 by Pedro Arias de Ávi-

la), Cartagena (founded on 1 June 1533 by Pedro de Heredia and key port

for the Spanish Treasure Fleet for South America; “aurifera”: what’s in a

name?; see Boazio’s view, 1586), Buenaventura (founded on 14 June 1540

by Juan Ladrillero), Cartago (founded on 9 August 1540 by Jorge

Robledo) and Merida (founded on 9 October 1588 by Juan Rodriguez Sua-

rez). The map is dominated by Colombia’s principal river the Rio Grande

(now Rio Magdalena). This map also shows the spot of the first European

crossing of the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean made by Vasco

Núñez de Balboa’s expedition in 1513. Already in 1510 Balboa had

founded Santa María la Antigua del Darién (Antiqua Dariensis, situated in

present-day Colombia), the starting point of his journey. This town was

later abandoned (in favour of Panama32 as local capital) and already in

1524 burned by the indigenous people. In 1513, Balboa (c. 1475 - 15 Janu-

ary 1519), well informed, crossed the continental landmass at one of its

smallest width. So coming from the north he borrowed the name of the sea

from the natives and called it Mar del Sur (Pacific Ocean33). Hence, the At-

lantic Ocean was called the Mar del Norte34. After traveling more than

110 km, Balboa named the bay where they ended up San Miguel, because

they arrived on 29 September (1513), the feast day of the archangel Mi-

chael. The bay of San Miguel is clearly visibly on the map. Just north in

32 Panama City was founded on 15 August 1519 by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila. It was the starting point of expeditions that conquered the Inca Em-pire in Peru. 33 Magellan called the ocean Pacífico since he encountered calm seas after having passed through the rough Strait called after him during his world circumnavigation of 1521. 34 One finds these two names on many contemporary maps.

27

the same area lies Darién Gap, a large swath of undeveloped swampland

and forest separating Panama from Colombia35.

4.8 Residuum continentis cum adiacentibus insulis

”Residuum continentis”, what’s in a name? One of the principal sources of

this map (as well as others on the Caribbean area) is de Bry’s map36

“Occidentalis Americae partis”, which covers the entire area of the four

expeditions by Colombo. On his map next to the Isle of Trinidad, de Bry

commented: “on the third voyage Colombus was carried to this island,

which he named after the pearls, of which he yielded a fifth part to the

king.” Indeed, on his third voyage Colombo landed on the south coast of

the island on 31 July 1498. From 4 August through 12 August he explored

the Gulf of Paria which separates Trinidad from Venezuela. He explored

the mainland of South America, including Cumana and the Orinoco River.

On his fourth voyage Colombo sighted the Cayman Islands, naming them

"Las Tortugas" after the numerous sea turtles there. As most of the islands

were already explored in Wytfliet’s days, he nicely maps and names them.

Across Trinidad lies the vast, but unnamed Orinoco Delta. Discernable on

the continent are also Cumana and Barbaruta37. Please notice, moreover,

“Andalusia Nova” (including the source of the Rio Negro) (bottom). Final-

ly, this map also shows Puerto Rico with S. Geoan (San Juan, its present

capital). Ponce de Léon, who had joined Colombo on his second voyage

(1493) eventually, became the first Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico from

where he set out in 1513 to touch the Floridian coast for the first time. Af-

ter the Spanish-American War, Spain and the United States signed the

35 It measures just over 160 km long and about 50 km wide. Road building of the so-called Pan-American Highway through this area is expensive as the environ-mental toll is also steep. Political consensus in favor of the construction of this part of the road has not yet emerged, and consequently there is no road connection through the Darién Gap connecting North to South America. It is, therefore, the missing link (between Yaviza and Turbo) of the Pan-American Highway (from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia). 36 Published in the fourth part of his Grands Voyages. This map was actually made to illustrate Girolamo Benzoni’s travel account since he had participated to nu-merous expeditions in the Spanish New World from 1541 to 1555. 37 Near this town Simón Bolívar successfully fought the decisive Battle of Cara-bobo in his war against the Spanish Royalist forces on 24 June 1821, which led to the independence of Venezuela.

28

Treaty of Paris of 1898, by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico38 (with the

Philippines, and Guam) to the United States for the sum of $20 million39.

4.9 Hispaniola insula

Hispaniola was widely known in cartographic circles long before Wytfliet:

already in 1528 Bordone mapped the island, showing the Isabella settle-

ment, followed by Ramusio (1534), Gastaldi (1548), Ruscelli (1561) and

others. The island of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) will eternally

be linked to Colombo: on Christmas day 25 December 1492, the Santa

Maria ran aground off the present-day site of Cap Haitien, but the ship was

lost. In the same area Colombo established the very first Spanish settle-

ment which he adequately called to Jesus birth, La Natividad, i.e. P.

Nativitat on the map at the north coast of present day Haiti. On his return

the subsequent year, following the disbandment of the settlement La

Navidad, Colombo founded a second town, Isabella, further east in present

day Dominican Republic. Wytfliet also widely commented on the Colom-

bo’s travels to Hispaniola.

San. Domingo was founded by Bartolomeo Colombo40, Cristoforo’s

younger brother and became from 1496 onwards the oldest “continuously”

inhabited European settlement in the Americas. It also became the first

seat of Spanish colonial rule in the New World. In 1509, Diego Colombo

(son of Cristoforo) was named Governor of the Indies, the post his father

had held. He established his home (El Alcázar de Colón), which still

stands, in Santo Domingo. Also, the expeditions that led to Cortes' (1485 –

38 The current constitutional status of Puerto Rico is, to say the least, bizarre as a sort of an unincorporated territory of the USA: benefitting, though, of a reciprocal free movement of persons, the islanders may not vote in U.S. presidential elec-tions Puerto Rico is now an "unincorporated territory" of the United States which according to the U.S. Supreme Court's Insular Cases is "a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States”. Puerto Ri-cans were collectively made U.S. citizens in 1917 as a result of the Jones-Shafroth Act. 39 Under the same Treaty, Spain also relinquished all claims of sovereignty over Cuba. 40 In the 1470s Bartholomeo (c. 1461 - 1515) was a mapmaker in Lisbon. When word spread in 1493 that his brother had succeeded, he returned to Spain, where he missed Christopher, who had already left on the second voyage. Funded by the crown, Bartholomeo traveled to Hispaniola in 1494 to meet his brother. He re-mained on the island until 1500.

29

1547) conquest of Mexico and Balboa's sighting of the Pacific Ocean all

started from Santo Domingo. The further history of this island remains in-

triguing: in 1586, Francis Drake captured the city41, which he held for ran-

som. Drake's invasion and his pillaging of Hispaniola so weakened Span-

ish dominion over the island that for more than 50 years all, but the capital,

was abandoned and left to the mercy of pirates. The expedition sent by Ol-

iver Cromwell in 1655 attacked the city of Santo Domingo, but was de-

feated. Then it withdrew and took Jamaica, instead. Under the 1697 Treaty

of Ryswick, Spain formally ceded the western third of the island to France,

to become Haiti. From 1930 to 1961, the town of Santo Domingo was

called "Ciudad Trujillo", when the Dominican Republic's dictator, Rafael

Trujillo42, named the capital after himself. The Turks and Caicos Islands

can be seen in the north-western corner of Hispaniola on the left.

Fig. 3: Hispaniola

41 Eternalized by Baptista Boazio’s map of 1588, most likely engraved by Jodocus Hondius. 42 Trujillo prominently figures in Mario Vargas Llosa’s (Nobel Prize for Literature 2010) masterpiece La fiesta del chivo or The Feast of the Goat.

30

4.10 Cuba insula et iamaica

The name Cuba comes from the Taíno43 language. The exact meaning of

the name is unclear but it may be translated either as “where fertile land is

abundant” (cubao), or “great place” (coabana). On his first voyage Co-

lombo also explored the northeast coast of Cuba where he landed on 28

October 1492. At his second voyage he arrived there on 30 April 1494 and

named the island Juana. Then he explored the Southern coast, which he be-

lieved to be a peninsula rather than an island, and several nearby islands,

including the large Y. de Pinas, later known as La Evangelista and now

called Isla de la Juventud. Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar founded Baracoa,

the first settlement on the island (far east) in 1512. Havana was probably

only founded around 1519, to become the capital of this Spanish colony in

1607. Its name is derived from the Indian leader Habaguanex. On the

south east coast one recognizes S. Iacobus (Santiago de Cuba) founded in

1514 and from 1522 until 1589 capital of the Spanish colony of Cuba. Fur-

ther to the east one recognizes a wide unnamed bay which is presently

known as Guantanamo. Further, Colombo reached Jamaica during his se-

cond voyage on 5 May 149444. The first Spanish settlement here was

Sevilla (central north), which was already abandoned around 1524 because

it was deemed unhealthy. Some crumbling walls still remain at Oristan

(now called Bluefields), where the Spaniards founded a short-lived settle-

ment in 1509. Rather early, already in 1655, the English took this colony

from the Spanish.

4.11 Iucatana region et fondura

On his fourth voyage in 1502 Colombo explored for several months the

coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, before arriving in Almi-

rante Bay, Panama. In 1517 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba led the ex-

pedition in Iucatan. Unfortunately, this map carries no information on the

great Maya sites in Yucatan. But, what strikes at first glance are the two

enormous (but unnamed) inland lakes: they probably are the Lago de

Izabel in Guatemala (north) and the even larger Lago Nicaragua in Nicara-

gua (south). The river running from this last lake to the Caribbean Sea,

however, does not exist as a long mountain range cuts it off that sea. As

43 Taino were Native Americans mainly living on the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Ja-maica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico) and the Bahamas. 44 On his fourth voyage Columbus and his men remained stranded on Jamaica for a year.

31

the countries of Nicaragua and Honduras are fertile volcano lands, this

middle section on the map is further embellished with three volcanoes.

Fig. 4: Iucatan

On the other hand, the cities of Nicaragua (not Managua?45), Guatemala,

Léon, Granata (both in Nicaragua) and Panama are clearly depicted. So is

Cap. Gracias a Dios, the majestic cape forming the northern international

border of Nicaragua and Honduras, as determined by King Alfonso XIII of

Spain in 1906 and confirmed by the International Court of Justice in 1960

as the frontline between the two countries. The Spanish name "Cape Thank

God" is said to have been bestowed by Colombo on his last voyage in

45 On the basis of its location on the map, it is possible that Nicaragua refers to San Salvador. Also, on September 15, 1821, Spanish authorities signed the Acta de Independencia (Deed of Independence) which released all of the Captaincy of Guatemala (comprising current territories of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica and the Mexican state of Chiapas) from Spanish rule and declared its Independence. So until 1821 there was no clear separation in these territories.

32

1502 when the weather calmed suddenly as he turned the cape during a se-

vere storm. The moment also gave the name to Honduras, which means

“depths” in Spanish, since the complete phrase is said to have been “Gra-

cias a Dios hemos salido de esas honduras”, or “Thank God we have come

out from those depths”. This map was later replaced by four smaller maps

of India, China, Japan and the Philippines by Magini.

4.12 Hispania nova

This map shows the section of New Spain from the Gulf of California to

the Gulf of Mexico including Mexico City and several missions in Texas.

Hispania nova = Cortés land or in full Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro.

In July 1519 his troops took Vera Cruz and, in November later that year,

Tenochtitlan or Mexico. Wytfliet’s scarce view of the inland area can only

be considered as a regression in comparison to Ortelius’ equivalent but far

more detailed map (1579, vdB 13) and to de Bry’s copy of 1595. Ortelius

pictured the smallest Indian villages, named several tribes and indicated

the Spanish camps. In his description Ortelius also referred to Cortés as a

source and mentioned that Pope Paul III established the seat of an arch-

bishop in Mexico City in 1547. Vera Cruz became the key port for the

Spanish treasure fleet (sailing in convoy), installed from 1566 onwards as

a response to attacks by French privateers. Further, credit to this map and

the one of Iucatana has to be given to Ruscelli, whose map of 1561 (par-

tially based on Gastaldi’s map of 1548) covers Mexico, including Baja

California as a peninsula. With the Spanish colonization of the Americas,

viceroys were instituted in Hispania nova and in Peru. The viceroys had

oversight over the other provinces, with most of the North America, Cen-

tral America, the Caribbean and Venezuela (!) supervised by the viceroy in

Mexico City and the rest of South American by the viceroy in Lima. This

situation continued until the 18th

century, when the new Bourbon Dynasty

established two additional viceroyalties for New Granada in 1717 (capital,

Bogotá) and the Río de la Plata in 1776 (capital, Buenos Aires). The Span-

ish rulers also extensively organized the judiciary system in the new

World46.

46 A Hearing (or court proceedings) settled for the first time in Santo Domingo in 1511, during the government of Diego Columbus, but soon after it was suppressed (being restored in 1526). Under Carlos I and Felipe II, between 1526 and 1583, the system of Hearings were thoroughly organized with Hearings in Mexico (New Spain) in 1527; Panama in 1538; Guatemala and Lima in 1543; Guadalajara (New Galicia) and Santa Fe de Bogota (New Granada) in 1548; Pools (High Peru) in

33

4.13 Granata nova et California (Philip Burden, in The Mapping of America, 106, 1 state)

This map, the first one in the atlas of North America, is a cornerstone in

the early cartography of the American West, not to be forgotten that a few

decades later Baja California would be depicted as an island47. This is the

second printed map of the region of California48 and the northwest - the

first one was by de Jode (1592) on which this one is based. It is, therefore,

of seminal importance to Californian cartography49. Wytfliet’s map covers

the area from the tip of the peninsula to Los Farallones in the north, with

the Gulf of California shown in its entirety, and the Colorado River ex-

tending to the interior. Burden notes that "The outline of the map is fairly

accurate and is derived largely from Petrus Plancius' large world map of

1592. The main coastal irregularity is the westward slant of the California

coastline. Bearing in mind that it would be shown as part of an island in

twenty five years, this is quite forgivable...” Wytfliet’s presentation of Cal-

ifornia is absolutely not novel; think of the Ortelius maps of America and

Tartaria, both first published in 1570. Wytfliet’s map is also an example of

some cartographic errors long perpetuated by the European mapmakers

starting with the course of the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo) del Norte south-

west to the Gulf of California rather than southeast to the Gulf of Mexico50.

The river is shown flowing from a large mythical lake in the New Mexico

region surrounded by the legendary Septem civitatum Patria (Seven cities

of Cibola) - a misconception that arose from several wishful thinking

sources. The origin of the myth was an outgrowth of the Muslim conquest

of Portugal in the early eighth century. Allegedly, in 714 seven Catholic

bishops and their faithful followers had fled across the Atlantic to a land

1559; Exempt (Ecuador) and Conception (Chile) in 1563 (the last one between 1565 - 1575); and Manila (Philippine) in 1583. In 1605 the Hearing of Santiago (Chile) was created and the one of Buenos Aires (River of the Silver) in 1661 (un-til 1671). Finally, in the late 18th century followed the establishment of the Hear-ings of Buenos Aires (1783) of Caracas (1786) and the one of Cuzco (1787). 47 Noteworthy is Mercator’s world map of 1569 showing California also as a pen-insula. 48 Was the first mapping of California (depicted there as a peninsula) made on the world map by Sebastiano Caboto, 1544? 49 For detailed information of the early explorations and mapping of California: see Dora Beale Polk in the selected bibliography. 50 It was not before Giovanni Battista Nicolosi’s “Dell’ Hercole e Studio Geografico” of 1660 that the Rio Grande (called R. Escondido) was given its cor-rect course.

34

known as Antilia, the name of which, incidentally, was the source of the

name Antilles, which was initially applied to the West Indian islands of the

Caribbean. The Antillean islands failed to produce large quantities of gold

and silver. The fabulous seven El Dorado cities were first reported on by

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who, after being shipwrecked off Florida in

1528, had wandered through what later became Texas and Northern Mexi-

co. Returned to Spain, he instituted the Seven Cities of Gold theory. Later,

Friar Marcos de Niza led an expedition into the Zuni Indian region of New

Mexico in 1539. His exaggerated description of the Zuni Pueblos seriously

promoted the legend of the Seven Cities of Cibola. It was an electrifying

statement to Spanish explorers who were scouring the New World for the

“fantastic” wealth of the Native Americans. But when a large and expen-

sive Spanish expedition returned to the area in 1541, they found only a

modest adobe pueblo that wasn’t anything resembling what the priest de-

scribed. The expedition turned out to be a ruinous misadventure for those

involved - including famed conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado

(1510 – 1554)51. Finally, in 1582 Antonio de Espejo52 traveled to the Pueb-

lo Indian country of the upper Rio Grande where he received reports from

local Indians about a large lake surrounded by a land of great wealth. De

Espejo's mythical lake quickly found its way too onto early maps of the

West. Yet, the map is intriguingly interesting on California: the Gulf of

California is here labeled both Mar Vermeio and Californie Sinus. Francis-

co de Ulloa (d. 1540), an early Spanish explorer who explored in 1539 the

west coast of present-day Mexico under the commission of Cortés, named

the gulf “vermeio” due to the resemblance of the colour of the water with

the Red Sea. The reports of Ulloa’s expeditions along Baja California are

credited with being influential in the perpetuation of the 17 th

century car-

tographic misconception of the existence of the Island of California53. Fur-

ther, one notices on this map the following:

- an unnamed river flowing straight north on the top of the Gulf is

most likely the Colorado river.

51 Later, in 1540, he mounted his own expedition starting in Mexico and passing Indian Territory of i.a. Apache and Cheyenne land, as far as Kansas. 52 Wytfliet may have read de Espejo’s work, which was translated in English in 1587. 53 The first known mention of this legend was in a 1510 novel by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo who described the island in this passage: “Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons.”

35

- on the west coast, the Y. de los Cedros: drawn far too much to the

north. In 1539, a Spanish expedition led by Francisco de Ulloa land-

ed on the island, which was the furthest he went up north coast-side.

- top north Los Farallones: mark the plural! The only similar topo-

graphic name still in use is the one for the Farallon islands, just out-

side San Francisco Bay. Surprisingly, Wytfliet draws a short but

large bay area: could this be the Bay?

To illustrate the deep controversy around the island- status of California: it

lasted until 1747 when Ferdinand VII of Spain finally issued a formal de-

cree that California was a part of the mainland.

Fig. 5: California

4.14 Limes Occidentis Quivira et Anian (Burden 107, 2 states)

This map is much more about present-day Oregon and California than it is

about Alaska (notice the Circulus Arcticus). Cornelius de Jode produced a

very similar and superior map “Quivrae Regnu” in 1593 which clearly

served as inspiration to Wytfliet.

36

Fig. 6: West-Anian

The coastline above Cape Mendocino (correctly shown at about 40˚ N lati-

tude) may have been explored by Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho in

1542–1543 (for Spain), but many other place-names and topographical

features are mostly imaginary. Nevertheless, this map and previous ver-

sions such as de Jode’s anticipate the westward bulge of present-day Alas-

ka. Apart from the east-west distortion of the coastline, this map does dis-

play several of the coastal place-names, such as R. de los Estrechos

(Columbia River54?) and C. Blanco in Oregon and C. Mendocino, Sierra

Nevada, C. de S. Francisco (correctly shown at 38˚ N latitude), and, to the

south, C. Blanco, in California more or less correctly. Quivira (another

mythical name) - an area explored by Coronado - appears too far to the

west. The exact site of Quivira is unknown but historians speculate it was

in present-day Kansas55. Curiously the map also shows a number of Indian

54 Another reference indicates Stikine River (British Columbia). 55 Archaeological evidence has suggested that Quivira was located near the Great Bend of the Arkansas River in central Kansas. The remains of several Indian set-

37

settlements such as: Tuchano, Cicuic, Tignex (most likely in New Mexi-

co). The strait of Anian (Latin: Anian Fretum) first appeared in Gastaldi's

(and others) woodcut map of the world, ca. 1561. Gastaldi found the name

Ania or Anian in the Travels of Marco Polo, whose Italian edition was (re-

) published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio in 1559. The original Ania of

Marco Polo was probably Annam or Tonkin (Vietnam), but Gastaldi must

have misplaced the site, giving the name to a supposed strait between Asia

and America, somewhere north of Japan, and to the nearby “Ania re-

gion”56. The name stucks: Zaltieri, Ortelius and Mercator used it, so mak-

ing its fortune for more than a century. The proportions on this map are

somewhat strange. Finally, the northern coastal delineation of the Conti-

nent in a (correct) straight east-west line is quite intriguing. Or was it just

copying Mercator’s conception of how the poles were shaped? Clearly,

Wytfliet perpetuates the much-hoped-for prospect of a northwest passage

and the separation of the continents by the Strait of Anian; only to be dis-

covered a few centuries later.

4.15 Conibas regio cum vicinis gentibus (Burden 100, 3 states)

This map attempts to provide a view of Central Canada as the first of its

kind. The lack of detail is evidence of how little was really known in Eu-

rope about the interior of North America at the end of the 16th century. One

of the possible comparisons to be made is the world map by Mercator of

1569 who depicted a large body of water inland in the extreme north –

Hudson Bay57? The dominating “lake of Conibas”, drained north into a

gulf, already appeared on André Thevet’s map of 1575. It has been sug-

gested that Wytfliet’s view possibly was a record of a voyage unknown to

us that visited Hudson Bay, but it could even be remnants of Verrazano’s

sea theory and thus that the French were locally informed of this large wa-

ter mass up north. It was only a dozen years after Wytfliet’s publication,

that Henry Hudson will sail under English Flag through Hudson Strait,

discover Hudson Bay, be the victim of a mutiny in 1611 and tragically

vanish into history. But even so, the Great Lakes58 are missing on this map!

tlements have been found near Lyons along Cow Creek and the Little Arkansas River. Ortelius (America, 1570) pictures Quivira both as a region and a city. 56 See Gastaldi’s map “Terza parte dell’ Asia” 1561. 57 Mercator showed a similar “inland water mass” on his North Pole map of 1595. 58 Shown at Mercator’s world map of 1569

38

Or are they the lakes near “Faga”. Maybe not, as the Ottawa River (at the

border of Quebec and Ontario) pouring into the Saint Lawrence at

Hochelaga59 (Montreal) crosses many lakes. The name Saguenai60 (small

river in the east) refers to a present region and river in Quebec. The river

pouring into the St. Lawrence from the southeast may be sourced by Lake

Champlain. At the top of the map one sees the open north-west passage,

not known in 1600.

Fig. 7: Conibas

As said, this map covers a very large continental land mass, including both

Hochelaga in the east and, surprisingly, also the Septem civitates in the far

south-west (located in Nova Granatae Pars) (see discussion California

map). Cornelius de Jode produced “Americae Pars Borealis” in 1593,

which also covered most of the northern continent. Both cartographers

drew a number of cities in the Central Canadian region such as Ciogigua,

59 See Ramusio’s great town view. 60 The name Saguenay is possibly derived from the Innu word "Saki-nip" which means "where water flows out”.

39

Canoagua, Zubilaga and Zabaira, all on the Obilo River, and unfortunate-

ly not identified in the context of this article. Finally, Wytfliet mysterious-

ly mentions Higuater61, upstream on the St. Lawrence River.

4.16 Florida et Apalche (Burden 104, 1 state)

Fig. 8: Florida

Gastaldi's Nueva Hispania Tabula Nova map, reissued by Ruscelli, was the

first regional map of the southwest, Gulf Coast and Florida regions of

North America. Thereafter, Wyfliet's map is also one of the earliest to fo-

cus on the southeast and to name Florida. Along with Johannus Metellus'

map of 1598, it is one of only 3 printed maps of the Southern United States

published in the 16th century. The map is based upon Abraham Ortelius

(vdB 15) drawn by Gerónimo de Chaves62 and published in 1584. Another

61 Could this be an indirect reference to the much later explored Great Lakes? 62 Geronimo Chavez was the son of Alonso de Chavez, a topographical engineer who worked in Mexico and who was also engaged as a pilot and cosmographer to

40

source may be de Bry’s detailed map based on Jacques le Moyne’s notes

(156463). What strikes in comparison with the other maps is the lack of any

meaningful information on the explorations with Wytfliet. On April 2,

1513, Ponce de Léon, the first Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico, sighted

land which was believed to be yet another island. He named it “La Flori-

da” in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was the Easter

season, which the Spaniards called “Pascua Florida” (Festival of Flowers).

The following day they came ashore. The precise location of their landing

on the Florida coast has been disputed for many years. Some historians be-

lieve it occurred at St. Augustine, but others prefer a more southern land-

ing at a small harbor now called Ponce de León Inlet; and some argue that

Ponce came ashore even further south near the present location of Mel-

bourne Beach. Unfortunately, none of the places is identified on this map.

The inland details are derived from the reports of Hernando de Soto's ex-

plorations of 1539-1542 (passing i.a. Cofaquj, Cosle, Tali), continued by

Moscoso (via Quigata) as far as Texas (Naguater may be situated some-

where in northwestern Louisiana) and down the Mississippi river. De Soto

started his search for the El Dorado in B. de S. Spirito (now Bradenton, just

south of and now art of greater Tampa). Other sources are Álvar Núñez

Cabeza de Vaca, whose expedition stranded near Galveston (to travel back

over land to Mexico City). Wytfliet covers a larger territory than his Ant-

werp predecessor, covering some of the Appalachian Mountains to the

north and C. de Arenas - or the area of the Outer Banks of Carolina -,

Mexico to the east, and Cuba and the Bahamas to the south. The majority

of the cartography is derived from de Soto's explorations 1539-1542 and,

as such, it is one of the few maps of the sixteenth century to record infor-

mation on the interior. The Mississippi is labeled as the R. de S. Santo. On

the Floridian peninsula it is the first printed map to show Cap. de Canav-

eral, C. de Florida (on Key Biscayne), and the area of the Everglades, la-

beled Aquatio – what’s in a name? Finally, the map also shows most of the

Bahamas. It is here that Colombo’s first landfall in the New World took

Charles I/V of Spain. Geronimo drew this manuscript map, probably after 1560. He succeeded Sebastiano Caboto as "Piloto Mayor de la Casa de la Contratacion" the repository of Spain's secret maps of their explorations and conquests. 63 Grands Voyages, art II; The French unsuccessfully tried to get a foothold in Florida with two expeditions in 1563 and 1564. Jacques le Moyne de Morgues (c. 1533–1588) participated at Ribaults’ ill-fated expedition of 1564, but he left us with fabulous drawings of native human beings and plants.

41

place, probably64 on the tiny Isle of San Salvador (also known as Watling's

Island) in the southeastern Bahamas, unfortunately not pictured by

Wytfliet. Can the clutch of Roques be anything else than the Key Islands?

Note at the bottom the northern tip of Iucatinae Pars as well as Y. de Are-

nas and the Y. de Alacranes (Scorpion Reef), both still called the same. Fi-

nally and unfortunately, the map does not show the early French and Span-

ish settlements of Fort Caroline (1562) and St. Augustine (1565).

4.17 Norumbega et Virginia (Burden 103, 3 states)

This map is depicted after the first English attempts to explore and settle in

this region. It is the most accurate antecedent to Johan de Laet’s 1630 No-

va Anglia, Novum Belgium et Virginia and the second to use the name

Virginia, after de Bry-White of 1590. Norumbega: region, very large town

or river? Arthur James Weise65 argues in 1891 that the river of Norumbega

was the Hudson66, and that the town was on Manhattan Island. The name

may indeed be connected with Verrazzano’s voyage67 of 1524 in French

service. He was the first European to briefly explore later “New York”

harbour68. The “Hudson River” is the only one which in his letters

Verrazzano speaks of entering. However, Professor E. N. Horsford be-

lieves that the river of Norumbega is the Charles River, where the Norwe-

gian Vikings founded a settlement at its junction with Stony Brook. The

64 However, in October 1986 the National Geographic Society, announcing com-pletion of a five-year study, claimed that Samana Cay (also known as Atwood Cay) was the site of Columbo’s first landfall in the New World. Samana Cay is the largest now uninhabited island in the Bahamas. 65 In his work “Troy's One Hundred Years, 1789-1889”. 66 Henry Hudson, on this voyage sailing for the VOC, is traditionally credited with the discovery of Long Island in 1609 and said to have been the first to land on Co-ney Island (or Staten Island) on 3 September of the same year. Since 2009 (400th anniversary) a Dutch made replica of Hudson’s Halve Maene serves a travelling museum on the Hudson River. 67 This first voyage to North America since the Vikings covered the Atlantic coast from Cape Fear (North Carolina) to Narragansett Bay at the Rhode Island Sound, roughly the area shown on this map. 68 Almost simultaneously, Portuguese Estêvão Gomes (who a few years earlier de-serted Magalhães’ expedition his ship was ordered to explore the Straits) explored for the Spanish crown the coastline from Nova Scotia to Florida (1524-1525) and thus provided Diogo Ribeiro with data to outline the East coast of North America on his world map of 1529.

42

Native Americans would have remembered its name for two centuries

longer and imparted that name to the whites, Norumbega being the Indian

attempt at pronouncing “Norvega”, the Latin form of Norway. The name

found its way to many 16th century maps. On his map of the American

continent (1570) Ortelius called the entire area south of St. Lawrence Riv-

er Norumbega. Clearly inaccurate is the positioning of Chesipooc Sinus

(Chesapeake) at 43 degrees, the latitude of what is now Maine. Then,

Wytfliet compensates and depicts the coastline north of Chesapeake in an

almost east-west line, rather than to the north-east. Also Y. de Breton

(Cape Breton Island), now part of the Nova Scotia is located too far south.

It is therefore also unlikely that R. Primero can be First River, in the state

of New Jersey. To the south, the Outer Banks (North Carolina) are better

presented with Hatarask (Hatteras), Roanoac, site of the failed attempts to

settle a colony in 158569 and in 1587 and at the very south Buelta de Are-

nas, thus linking up with the Florida map. This part of the map is fully in-

spired by Gastaldi’s map of 1548 and to John White’s sketches, mapped by

de Bry.

4.18 Nova Francia et Canada (Burden 102, 2 states)

The area covered on this map (with most names in French) was essential to

the French attempts to build their colony. It shows, inter alia, the mouth of

the St Laurence, Newfoundland and Labrador. After Florida, it was the

first area to be explored by a European power, first prudently by the Corte-

Real family for Portugal and firmly by the English under the Caboto fami-

ly, and later by the French more in particular under Verrazano in 1524 and

Jacques Cartier in 1534. Obviously, this part of the Continent had been

mapped frequently in the 16th century (see selected list below). Wytfliet’s

map naming Canada in its title is the first to concentrate, on a more realis-

tic basis, on the St. Lawrence River and its gulf. The general outline of the

map is derived from Gerard Mercator and summarizes sixteenth-century

knowledge of the region. The region north of the St. Lawrence and east of

69 Grenville led a first expedition in 1585, but he came back to England and a se-cond voyage under John White was organized in 1587 only to a deserted colony. After having rebuilt the place, White also returned to England, leaving his grand-daughter and first English born on American soil, Virginia Dare, behind. When White returned overseas in 1590 the colony as was in ruins again, with only one clue carved “croatoan”, the name of a nearby Indian tribe.. The colony was never rebuilt.

43

the Saguenai70 River is labeled Canada, and Nova Francia is centered on

the town of Hochelaga (present-day Montreal). The Ramusio view of this

town (1556) is the first map to detail any North American settlement, iden-

tifying the site of present-day Montreal and one which records the meeting

of the explorer Jacques Cartier with the local Iroquois Indians at the stock-

aded village of Hochelaga. Ramusio's "Navigationi Et Viaggi ...", in which

this map was published, was one of the 16th century's major references to

early discoveries and the world beyond European shores. The other French

metropolis Quebec was officially founded by French explorer Samuel de

Champlain on July 3, 1608. Cartier had already built a fort at the site in

1535 which was abandoned in 1542. Quebec is shown as the town of Can-

ada. The name Canada originated around 1535 from the Iroquoian word

kanata meaning "village", "settlement", or land. Finally, at the mouth of

the River, lies Anticosti Island or Y. de Assumptione, where Jacques Car-

tier sailed in 1534. He provided its first written description and named it

Isle de l'Assomption, because he discovered it on the Day of the Assump-

tion of Mary. But this name had fallen into disuse: about 1586, the histori-

an André Thevet wrote that "the savages named [it] Naticousti", while

Samuel de Champlain later spelled it Antiscoti (1612), Antiscoty (1613),

Enticosty (1625), and Antycosty (1632). Just south of the Island appears

the name of “Etroit de S. Pierre”. In the southeast lies Terra de Bacallaos,

often used to name Newfoundland Island. The name was first used on a

map in 1508 and the Portuguese navigator João Vaz Corte-Real is credited

for the discovery of Terra do Bacalhau71. Bacalao also means codfish and it

is suggested that Basque fisherman have fished on cod at the Grand Banks

of Newfoundland in the 15 th

century already, so this could also explain the

origins of the name. Cartier’s map was probably the first to detach New-

foundland from the mainland, but the island is shown as an archipelago as

late as 1597. Across the island one recognizes the toponym C.S.Pietro on

the mainland: could this be a reference to the island of Saint Pierre72? This

map was, thereafter, superseded by more accurate presentations, such as

the ones by Johannes de Laet (1630) and Jean Boisseau (1643).

70 Saguenai is here probably incorrectly located as it purports to present what is now the long Ottawa River (sourced by many lakes). A better geographical presentation of the Sanguenai River is shown on the Conibas map. 71 This claim originates from Gaspar Frutuoso in his book Saudades de terra around 1570-80. João Vaz Corte-Real’s expeditions go back to the 1470ies: as re-ward he was granted São Jorge Island in the Azores in 1472. 72 Saint Pierre and Miquelon islands, located just before Newfoundland Island, are still controlled by the French Republic.

44

Fig. 9: Nova Francia and Canada

4.19 Estotilandia et Laboratoris Terra (Burden 101, 3 states)

Let’s start history to where it should by giving credit to certain Portuguese

explorers. In an attempt to discover land East of the Tordesillas line, King

Manoel of Portugal (1495–1521) ordered from 1498 on several expeditions

to the Northern Atlantic to find the passage to India: during the next four

years, Pedro de Barcelos, João Fernandes Lavrador73, João Vaz Corte-Real

and his sons Gaspar and Miguel, and João Martins (all prominent residents

of Terceira Island, part of the Azores archipelago) took part in the search

for new land up north. The contribution of each of them is not yet fully es-

tablished. Gaspar Corte-Real sighted “Ponta d’Asia” (Greenland), in the

73 He was the first modern explorer on the coasts of the Northeast of Northern America, including the Labrador Peninsula, (which he may have sighted in 1500) which bears his name.

45

likely vicinity of Cape Farewell in 1500, although Harrisse74 believes that

he reached the eastern shores of Newfoundland. Anyway, in 1501 Gaspar

Corte-Real made another voyage, and is believed to have arrived on Lab-

rador: he identifies some aborigines whom brought back to Portugal as

“Nasquapee Indians who still inhabit Labrador”75. This story may explain

why the northern part of this map (i.e. Labrador) is called “Terra

Cortereale”. Almost simultaneously, the English were also active in the

same area under Italian captains Giovanni and Sebastiano Caboto (1496-

1508) with the first European one making landfall (after the Vikings)

somewhere along the Canadian coastline/islands, on June 24, 1497.

Fig. 10: Davis Strait

74 Harrisse, H., The discovery of North America: a critical, documentary, and his-toric investigation, with an essay on the cartography of the new world . . . , Lon-don, 1892, 59–76. 75 Biggar, H.P., The voyages of the Cabots and of the Corte-Reals to North Ameri-ca and Greenland, 1497–1503, Paris, 1903, 96–97, 100.

46

This map is the first one to focus on the late 16th century expeditions of the

English explorers Martin Frobisher and John Davis, both having made

three voyages attempting to discover the northwestern passage. Wytfliet

learned of the recent voyages by Frobisher and Davis from Hakluyt’s

“Principall Navigations” (1589). The map covers the coast of Labrador,

Greenland, Iceland, and the mythical island of Frislant, surprisingly shown

with many named towns. Pre-existing published maps, two by James

Beare76 (1578), a captain of one of Frobisher's ships and one by Michael

Lok (1582), were so crude that cartographers had little idea where Fro-

bisher (voyages 1576-1578) had been. He is credited with the exploration

of what he thought was the passage. However, this was nothing else than

“Frobisher Bay” (at Baffin Island) (see below). He also landed on Resolu-

tion Island: could this be Elisabeth promontorum? A few years later, John

Davis' three voyages (1585-87) to more or less the same area first appeared

on maps in the 1590s. He left us Davis Strait, the “royal” passage between

Greenland and Baffin Island. He too missed the Hudson Strait, indicated

on the map as a furious over fall (for good reason). The maps by Mercator

(1595) and Wytfliet (1597) are representative of Davis' contribution.

Wytfliet wrote that the Northern parts of America were first discovered by

"Frislandish" fishermen, which were further purportedly explored by the

Zeno brothers around 1390. He also mentioned: "but the honour of its se-

cond discovery fell to the Pole Johannes Scolvus77, who in the year 1476 -

eighty-six years after its first discovery - sailed beyond Norway, Green-

land, Frisland, penetrated the Northern Strait, under the very Arctic Cir-

cle, and arrived at the country of Labrador and Estotiland". Admittedly,

Wytfliet was not the first or last cartographer to do so78. This view was not

supported by contemporary evidence; even the existence of Scolvus has

been disputed. Frislant (mark some Italian place names on the map) first

appeared in a map by Nicolo Zeno in 1558 and was accepted by Gerhard

Mercator for his world map of 1569 (and later his 1595 map of the North

Pole). The island will persist on numerous maps until as late as the 18th

century. Frobisher's reference to Frislant caused a great deal of cartograph-

76 In George Best, A true discourse of the late voyages of discoveries for the find-ing of a passage to Cathaya. 77 Also called John of Kolno (1435-1484) who was a semi-legendary Polish sailor and navigator serving the court of Denmark. It has even been suggested that João Vaz Corte-Real took part in this expedition. 78 Scolvus was also referred to by François de Belleforest 1570 and later by Claude Barthélemy Morisot 1643, George Horn 1671, Coronelli 1691 and Charle-voix 1744.

47

ic confusion, for when he reported seeing a "high and rugged land," he as-

sumed it was Frislant though it was actually Greenland79. When he arrived

at Baffin Island, he thought he was at Greenland; hence, “his” discovery of

"Frobisher's Strait" (Forbisseri Angvstiæ) was positioned for many years at

the bottom of Greenland. Incorrectly, however, since Davis' “L. Lumleÿs

Inlet” is actually the same place, but more accurately located and correctly

identified it as a bay.

5 Final remarks and conclusions

This article is the product of a historical search of many toponyms. Still,

many names were simply not found after hours of research. It was an abso-

lute adventure to follow the early discoverers on their routes, men who

risked their lives for their own benefit and glory (see short list below). His-

tory books brought our attention to the survivors, but many more were lost

in myth and legend. After a century of explorations, Wyfliet could piece-

meal deliver some of the protagonists to us. This atlas smells and spurs the

mystery about Wytfliet himself: who was he, what were his sources and

why did he make this (single) cartographic product? Maybe these ques-

tions will remain covered by the mystery of history. But, what should we

retrieve from his atlas? Some conclusions:

1. Still, understanding the controversy about the originality of the

maps and the introduction of certain fantasy, the Wytfliet atlas has

not been given its right place in cartography. As the first/second

atlas on this entire continent it opens a new world to the 16th/17th

century audience and in hindsight to us. It is nothing less than a

valuable summary of the early cartography of this vast continent

and opens up an entirely new view on the early discoveries of the

New World.

2. Although the discovery of Central/South America took place al-

most simultaneously with the one of North America, their respec-

tive development was radically different: due to a lack of natural

resources, easily to plunder and so much sought after (gold and

silver), the expeditions to the north virtually came to a standstill

for about 70 years. The rest of the continent was explored and

conquered, which results in fairly accurate maps of Latin America,

drawn over several decades. And then, towards the last quarter of

79 An even less plausible theory is that Frislant is nothing else but the Faroe Is-lands.

48

the century, the north became fashionable again: English explorers

in search for a northwestern passage delivered fresh information.

Of course, Wytfliet built upon all this knowledge.

3. It appears from this article that the early expeditions to North

America have to be nuanced with many question marks (who,

when, what). This had an immediate effect on the maps of this part

of the continent. Some maps are, indeed, rather based on fantasy

(such as the picturing of the northwestern passage, the Seven Cit-

ies, Quivirae, Frislant) than on scientific research.

4. Most intriguing conclusion of this study is the position of an anno

1500 still small empire. Some early key explorations in the North

Atlantic were made by … the Portuguese. But they did not capital-

ize on their early efforts: why, economies of scale? And so, later

on, history never really gave them credit for their efforts. Concern-

ing the colonization of South America and although “Tordesillas”

gave the Portuguese the right to discover/colonize a part of this

unknown continent, this atlas reminds us of the fact that the basic

effort to discover the inland was Spanish. This fact cannot (only)

be explained by the fact that Portugal's independence was inter-

rupted between 1580 and 1640 by ... the Spanish.

5. Finally, 16th century mapmaking of the New World was not at all

an exclusive matter of the powers that be (first Portugal & Spain80,

then France & England). Quite to the contrary! It needs further

analysis why mapmakers of adjacent and (hardly to be called)

west-faring nations regions such as Italy (i.a.the Lafreri school,

Ramusio and Ruscelli), Germany (Waldseemïller, Münster) and

Flanders (too many) could, by all means, claim fame in their own

right.

Appendix A Selection of 15th – 16th century explorers (with sponsoring nation) and their key exploits with date to be traced back on Wytfliet’s maps (names, dates and locations are always relative and open to discussion):

- João Vaz Corte-Real, Portugal, 1470’s: Newfoundland?

- Cristoforo Colombo, Spain, 1492-1502: Caribbean islands & north coast of

South America

80 Why is there no Spanish Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, anno 1570?

49

- Bartolomeo Colombo (brother of), Spain, 1496: founded Santo Domingo,

first Spanish oversees capital

- Giovanni Caboto, England, 1497-98: Newfoundland

- Alonso de Ojeda, Spain, 1499: Venezuela (accompanied by Juan de la Cosa

and Amerigo Vespucci)

- João Fernandes Lavrador, Portugal, 1500 (and others): may have sighted

Labrador

- Pedro Cabral, Portugal, 1500: Porto Seguro, first Portuguese landfall on

Brazil

- Gaspar de Lemos, Portugal, 1502: Bay of Rio de Janeiro

- Gaspar Corte-Real, (son of João Vaz) Portugal, 1501: explorer of Green-

land

- Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Spain, 1512: founded Baracoa, the first set-

tlement on Cuba

- Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Spain, 1513: Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific

Ocean

- Ponce de Léon, as Governor of Puerto Rico, Spain, 1513: first landfall on

Florida

- Juan Diaz de Solis, Spain, 1516: Plata estuary

- Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, Spain, 1517: expedition in Yucatán

- Hernan Cortés, Spain, 1519: his conquest of Mexico (City) started in Vera

Cruz

- Pedro Arias de Ávila, Spain, 1519: founded Panama City on 15 August

- Fernão de Magalhães, Spain, 1520: Plata estuary and “his own” Strait

- Giovanni da Verrazzano, France, 1524: North Carolina to Rhode Island

- Estêvão Gomes, Spain, 1525-1526, from Nova Scotia to Florida

- Sebastiano Caboo, England, 1526-1529: Parana and Uruguay Rivers

- Francisco Pizarro, Spain, 1527-35: Peru+

- Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Spain, 1528+, explorer through Florida Tex-

as and Northern Mexico

- Pedro de Heredia, Spain, 1533: Cartagena

- Diego de Almagro, Spain, 1533-1534: Peru

- Jacques Cartier, France, 1534+: Saint Lawrence River

- Pedro de Mendoza, Spain, 1536: founded Buenos Aires

- Francisco de Ulloa, Spain, 1539: Baja California

- Hernando de Soto, Spain, 1539-1542: Texas+

- Marcos de Niza, Spain, 1539: expedition into the Zuni Indian region of

New Mexico

- Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, Spain, 1540-1542: conquistador of Arizo-

na and New Mexico to Kansas

- João Rodrigues Cabrilho, Spain, 1542-43: further expeditions of the north-

western American coast

- Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera Zúñiga y Toledo, Spain, 1573: founded Cordoba

(Mexico)

- Juan Fernández, Spain, 1574: Islas Desventuradas and Archipiélago Juan

Fernández (which includes Robinson Crusoe island) (Chile)

50

- Martin Frobisher, England, 1576-78: Atlantic Canada

- Antonio de Espejo, Spain 1582-83: New Mexico - Arizona

- Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Spain, 1584: founded Philipopolis

- John Davis, England , 1585-87: Atlantic Canada

It strikes that many of the early explorers sailed under the flag of another

nation (this is before exploration and colonization took place) and that so

few of them died a natural death!

Appendix B Selection of 16th century folio maps of (parts of) America (excluding world maps and settlements):

- Martyr: Indies, 1511

- Waldseemüller: Terre Nove, 1513

- Ribero & Ramusio: Terre Firma & the west Indies, 1533

- Münster: Novae Insulae, XVII – Nova Tabula, 1540

- Rotz, North America and West Indies, 1542

- Tramenzanius: Western Hemisphere, 1554

- Le Testu: east coast of North America, Florida & the Greater Antilles, 1556

- Zaltieri: North America, 1556

- Forlani: South America, 1556

- Ramusio: Western Hemisphere, 1556; La Nuova Francia, 1556; Brasil,

1558

- Rosaccio: La Nouva Francia - Terra de Labrorador, 1556

- Homem, Diego: The North Atlantic, 1558; Brazil & Patagonia, 1558

- Gastaldi: La nuova Francia, 1556 (Gunti)

- Ruscelli: Tierra Nueva, 1561, Nueva Hispaniola (1561), South America

(1561); Brasil, 1561

- Guttiérez: Americae Sive Qvartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Des-

criptio, 1562

- Bertelli: Al Molto Mag (separately published), 1565

- Zaltieri: Il Disegno del discoperto della noua Franza, 1566

- Mercator, Gerhard: Nova et aucta Orbis Terrae descriptio Ad Usum

Navigantium emendaté accommodata, 1569

- Camocio: “America” (separately published), 1569

- Ortelius: Septentrionalium Regionum Descrip., 1570; Tartariae sive Magni

Chami Regni, 1570; Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio., 1570;

Hispaniae novae sivae magnae, recens et vera description, 1579;

Culiacanae, Americae Regionis, description - Hispaniolae, Cubae,

aliamarque Insularum circumiacientium, deleniatio, 1579; Peruviae

auriferae regionis typus - La Florida - Guastecan, 1584; Maris Pacifici,

1590

51

- de Nicolai: Nouveau Monde, 1573

- Thevet: Le nouveau Monde, 1575

- de Jode: “Peru & Chili” (separately published), 1576; Americae Pars Bore-

alis, 1593; Quivirae Regnu, 1593

- Best & Beare: “Passage to Cathaya”, 1578

- d’Anania: America, 1582

- Boazio: the Famouse West Indian Voyadge, 1588

- Mazz:a Americae, 1589

- White: Virginia Pars, 1585; Americae pars. Nunc Virginia dicta, 1590

- Le Moyne de Morgues: Floridae Americae Provinciae Recens & exactis-

simma description, 1591

- de Bry: Floridae Americae Provinciae, 1591; Americae Pars Magis Cogni-

ta, 1592; Occidentalis Americae partis; Occidentalis Americae partis, 1594;

America sive novus Orbis …, 1596

- Claesz: Nova Franciaa alio nomine dicta Terra nova, 1594

- Mercator, Michaël: America sive India Nova, 1595

- Mercator, Gerard: Septentrionalium, 1595

- Rughesi: Amercia, 1597

- Metellus atlas, 1598

- Hondius: “America” (separately published), 1598

- de Solis: Americae sive Novi orbis – Nova description, 1598

References

Beale Polk, D. (1991) The island of California: a history of the myth, Spokane:

The Arthus H. Clark Company.

Burden, C. (1996) The Mapping of North America: a list of printed maps 1511-

1670, Hertfordshire: Rickmansworth.

Diwald, H. (1980) Der Kampf um die Weltmeere, München: Droemer-Knaur.

Nordenskiold, A.E. (1973), Facsimile-Atlas to the Early History of Cartography

with Reproductions of the Most Important Maps Printed in the XV and XVI

Centuries, New York: Dover Publications, Inc.

Moreland, C. and Bannister, D. (2004) Antique Maps, London: Phaidon Press Ltd.

Nebenzahl, K. (1990) Atlas of Columbus and the Great Discoveries, Chicago:

Rand McNally.

Portinaro, P. and Knirsch, F. (1990) The Cartography of North America (1500 –

1800), New York: BookSales.

Pritchard, M., and Taliaferro, H. (2002) Mapping Colonial America: Degrees of

Latitude, New York: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Shirley, R. (1984) The mapping of the world (1472-1700), s.l.: Holland Press Pub-

lisher.

Skelton, R.A. (1964) Bibliograpical Note to Cornelius à Wytfliet, Descriptionis

Augentum Polemaicae, facsimile reprint of the first edition, s.l.

52

Schwartz, S.I. and Ehrenberg, R.E. (2001) The Mapping of America, Edison:

Wellfleet Press.

Van den Broecke, M.P.R. (2011) Ortelius Atlas Maps: an illustrated guide, ‘t Goy

– Houten: HES Publishers.

Van den Broecke, M.P.R. et al. (1998) Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas, Es-

says commemorating the Quadricentenial of his Death (1598 – 1998), ‘t Goy

– Houten: HES Publishers.

Van der Krogt, P. (1997-2003) Koeman’s Atlantes Neerlandici, Volumes 1 and

3,’t Goy-Houten: HES Publishers.

Van Ermen, E. (1990) The United States in old Maps and Prints, Tielt: Lannoo.

Weise, A.J. (1989) Troy's One Hundred Years, 1789-1889, Troy.

Wesel, G. (2004) 'Von einem, der daheim blieb, die Welt zu entdecken - Die Cos-

mographia des Sebastien Münstir oder Wie men sich vor 500 Jahern die Welt

vorstellte, Frankfurt: Campus Verlag.

53

A surveying symbol connects G. Mercator and J. van Deventer

Eric Leenders1, Jan De Graeve2 1Honorary President Brussels International Map Collectors’ Circle

ericleenders@scarlet.be 2Director International Institution for the History of Surveying and Meas-

urement

1 Introduction

Fig. 1: A typical survey point in Antwerp on the Map of Brabant

54

It was an observation on the map of Flanders ‘faciebat Mercator’ 1540, of

which there is only one specimen, that triggered a study of the surveying

technique used by Jacob van Deventer. Between 1532 and 1547 he sur-

veyed the northern region of the Seventeen Provinces.

For indeed the Flanders map discloses the same surveying symbol as the

five regional maps by van Deventer. The results of angular measurements

and comparison with the angles on all regional maps, confirms the hy-

pothesis of the topographical origin of the Flanders map, made by

G.Mercator and surveyed by J.van Deventer.

As we know Jacques Surhon was asked to make maps of the southern part

of the Seventeen Provinces. He used the same surveying symbol and dis-

plays analogue topographical results to the ones obtained by Van Devent-

er.

2 The surveying symbol

Fig. 2: Van Deventer declares on the Gelderland map the use of a survey symbol

55

On the regional map Gelderland (1543), his fourth map (Flanders in-

cluded), Van Deventer discloses his way of working. He writes “but in

those cases where they do not have the sign O, same are not so good and

accurate as the other ones, because it was not everywhere possible to

freely and with consent make a survey”. On this map he refers to the ongo-

ing war between Charles V and the Duke of Gueldres. Although only

noted on the fourth map, it was not a one map shot. Indeed this double ring

(ring point) survey symbol is present since 1536 on all his regional maps

as well as on the map of Flanders.

His maps are the result of a triangulation carried out from as many towers

as would be necessary, for his eyes were his only vision instrument. In or-

der to conclude to a system one should find the survey symbol on all maps

in a similar proportion and with comparative results. The localities were

counted on all six maps, so were the survey symbols. The following table

shows not only the number of survey symbols or survey points but also the

percentage of localities (towers) needed to survey the region.

Table 1: Presence of the survey symbol in relation to the number of localities

Localities Survey points %

Brabant 1536 1239 57 4,60

Holland 1537 612 56 9.15

Vlaanderen 1540 1014 44 4.33

Gelderland 1543 639 61 9.54

Friesland 1545 767 35 4.56

Zeeland 1547 391 35 8.95

3 Flanders map

Although the map carries the title ‘faciebat Mercator’, the origin has al-

ways been a point of discussion. Without substantial proof some attributed

the topographical content to Van Deventer. A study by Leenders in 2005

indicated the presence of a similar surveying symbol on the Flanders and

the five regional maps by Van Deventer. The most important source on

Mercator is the ‘Vita Mercatoris’ by Walter Ghym (1530-1611). This work

confrims that Mercator was asked to draft a map in a hurry, but says noth-

56

ing on how it was done. It also tells us that he surveyed only one region

namely Lotharingen. As a result he became sick and developed distaste for

this kind of work. It was the systematic use of a similar survey symbol

from Van Deventer on the Flanders map that led to the conclusion that this

map was triangulated by Van Deventer but engraved by Mercator. To sub-

stantiate this hypothesis a comparative study of the angular measurements

on all six maps using only the survey symbols was carried out. Such study

would also prove that Van Deventer used a topographical system which

eventually might be copied later on by others.

Fig. 3: Survey points on the Map of Flanders, with the Zenoi addition

4 Van Deventer maps

Little is known about the man, not even his date of birth. His inscription in

1520 at the University of Louvain makes us suppose that he had knowl-

edge of G. Frisius’ work on triangulation. Who influenced the other, we

don’t know. Frisius was probably the theorist and Van Deventer the practi-

cal one. Over a period of eleven years he published his regional maps in a

57

regular tempo: almost one every two years. Flanders fits in these series.

For the evaluation of these maps, the facsimiles ‘regional maps of the

Netherlands’ by prof. Koeman were used.

Fig. 4: Survey points on the regional map of Holland by Van Deventer.

This study is limited to the angular values between localities because they

were measured and are controllable. Only one distance was measured,

most probably in walking hours and therefore less precise.

His instruments were a compass and or a geometrical quadrant or a full

circle. Due to the lack of special glasses the distance between survey tow-

ers was judged by the naked eye and rarely surpasses 20km. This is indeed

an acceptable Fig.ure, as tested from the Atomium in Brussels (h: 103m).

One can easily see the Cathedral tower in Mechelen at a distance of 25km.

but not the cool towers at Doel at 42 km. Measurements were carried out

with a graduated circle of 29cm diameter (one degree measures 1.5mm). In

order to avoid overlapping angles, the measurements were carried out on a

similar size copy of each separate facsimile sheet.

58

Fig. 5: Angular measurements on a modern Michelin map 1:200,000.

In a first phase 60 angles from the regional maps were compared with

similar angles measured on a modern map 1:200,000. The regional maps

have a scale between 1:170,000 and 1:190,000. The method to compare

anglemeasurements between a tourist map and Deventer’s maps may at

first sight be unscientific. For indeed a survey point on Deventer’s maps

measures two mm, a town on a modern map measures between 1 and 4cm.

The measurepoint on modern maps was arbitrarely placed at the center of

the towns. The results demonstrate that with this method we can have a

reasonable insight in the cartographic capacities of Deventer. I dare con-

clude that the method is usefull in cases where one can not compare with

scientifical established angle-measurements. The same will apply with

Surhon.

On each Van Deventer map 60 angles using the survey symbol were

measured and compared. The second colomn expresses the mean angular

deviation as opposed to the angles measured on a modern map.

59

Table 2: Mean angular deviation as compared to a modern map 1:200,000.

N° measure-

ments

Mean angu-

lar deviation

Min. Max.

Brabant 60 4.58° 0° 21°

Holland 60 3.26° 0° 11°

Vlaanderen 60 2.54° 0° 11°

Gelderland 60 5.70° 0° 17°

Friesland 60 4.71° 0° 23°

Zeeland 60 3.46° 0° 19°

The overall angular deviation from the six maps amounts to 4.07. These

Fig.ures however indicate a remarkable result. The method has at first

sight a flaw, namely the comparison with a modern map (scale 1:200,000),

not knowing what measure point to chose in the cities. The center seemed

a good bet. Subsequently there was the idea to compare the angles with the

highly precise ones measured by Kraeyenhoff 1802-1811, partially from

the same high (church) towers.

5 Van Deventer versus Kraeyenhoff

Kraeyenhoff triangulated an area similar to the one Van Deventer did. Due

to the use of optical instruments he was able to measure distances from 20

to 40km. Therefore the independant facsimile sheets were reassembled in

full maps which made long distance angle measurements possible. Of the

268 survey points on the six Van Deventer maps, 57 were the same used

by Kraeyenhoff. These measure points offered 120 angles to compare.

60

Fig. 6: Comparative angular measurements on the triangulation map by Kraeyen-

hoff, using only the survey symbols corresponding with Van Deventer

Table 3: Medium Angular deviation Van Deventer versus Kraeyenhoff:

1. 268 survey points on Van Deventers’ maps

2. 57 localities which appear as well on Van Deventer as on Kraeyenhoff

3. Of these 120 angles were compared; 67 showed a difference of only 0° to

2° suggesting that both used the same spot for their measurements.

4. Medium angle deviation of each map. The overall angle deviation from

the six regional maps amount to 2.3°

1 2 3 4 Min. Max.

Brabant 57 8 18 4.72° 0° 11°

Holland 56 18 45 2.84° 0° 7°

Vlaanderen 44 9 15 1.26° 0° 3°

Gelderland 61 10 25 1.48° 0° 4°

Friesland 35 4 6 1.33° 0° 12°

Zeeland 15 8 12 2.08° 0° 6°

It is clear that Brabant was the school where Van Deventer learned the

hard way. Afterwards his results became better, with the slight exception

61

of Zeeland, most probably due to the large water surfaces. It is true that we

don’t know for sure that Van Deventer and Kraeyenhoff measured from

the same location (tower?). It is to be noted that on the 120 comparable

angles 67 showed a difference of 0° to 2°. These results were only possible

if they both used the same location.

6 Jacobo Surhon

Fig. 7: Hannoniae by Jacobo Surhon, with the survey points

As a result of the topographic work of the northern part of the Seventeen

Provinces by Van Deventer, Charles V commissioned Jacques Surhon in

62

1548 to survey the southern part. He drew a map of Hannoniae in 1548, of

Lutzenburgen in 1551 and of Atebratum (Artois) in 1554 using the same

survey symbol. He was a goldsmith from Mons. In 1551, the Emperor

Charles V nominates him as “ingéniaire des cartes des pays de par-deça”.

In 1551 Surhon drew a map of the territory of the abbey of St.Hubert lo-

cated in Luxemburg. Jacobo and his son Johanne may have worked to-

gether. Jacobo used Van Deventer’s survey symbol. Johanne did not use

the symbol on the maps he produced later alone, as for example

Vermandois and Picardiae. Since Johanne did not use the double ring (sur-

vey symbol) on his own maps, one must conclude that the map of Artois

signed Johanne is in fact a map surveyed by his father Jacobo. A study,

similar to that carried out on the Van Deventer maps was also carried out

on the three maps by Jacobo Surhon.

Table 4: Presence of the survey symbol in relation to the number of localities

Localities Survey points % of total

Hannoniae 1547 870 34 3.90

Lutzenbergen 1551 592 46 7.77

Artois 1554 920 37 4.02

Compared with Van Deventer’s number of measurepoint localities or sur-

vey points (table 1) which he needed to establish his maps, it is clear that

Surhon used a comparable amount of localities (towers) to measure the

southern regions. In Lutzenbergen he most probably needed more survey

points due to the hilly landscape. The distances between the survey points

on the maps by Surhon are similar as those on the maps by Van Deventer,

namely between 4 and 18 km. The distances also suggest that he did not

use any telescopic instrument.

In order to indicate the places from where he carried out the angular meas-

urements, he used the same survey symbol. As for the Van Deventer’s

study, the angles of the three maps were compared with similar angles on a

map 1:175000. Just as Kraeyenhoff offered us more precise comparable

angles for the Van Deventer’ study, Cassini de Thury did the same for the

study of Hannoniae. This region was compared with the angular measure-

ments made by Cassini de Thury during the 18th century wars by Louis

XV.

63

Fig. 8a-b: Comparison of northern Hannoniae with the triangulation by Cassini de

Thury

The results speak for themselves.

Table 5: Mean angular deviation

Surhon Surhon Min. Max.

1:175,000 Cassini

Hannoniae 5.37° 3.37° 0° 13°

Lutzenbergen 4.93° 0° 19°

Artois 3.93° 0° 16°

The survey of the southern region of the Seventeen Provinces by Surhon

was almost as good as the one of the northern regions by Van Deventer.

The angular measurements by Van Deventer are more precise then the

ones by Surhon. He worked on the regions where the terrain is essentially

flat. The southern provinces have a more hilly, varried landscape.

One may certainly conclude that Surhon’s work confirms that Van

Deventer’s topographic system works.

7 Philipp Apian

Van Deventer had most probably another follower, namely Philipp Apian

(1531-1589), son of Peter Apian. He was a mathematician, cartographer

64

and doctor of medecine. In 1554 he was commissioned to survey Bavaria.

He started barely three years after Surhon finished his last map. Philipp be-

ing the son of Peter Apian must have been acquainted with the work of

G.Frisius which appeared in Peter Apian’s ‘Cosmographiae’. As Van

Deventer he must have learned the principles of triangulation with limited

instruments as the geometrical quadrant or full circle and compass. In 1554

he was commissioned by the duke to survey Bavaria. He produced from

1554 to 1561 a handmade wall map 5 x 5m at a scale of 1:45000. He pub-

lished in 1561 a reduced map in 24 sheets, 160 x 170 cm at 1:144000. This

map became the prototype of many copies until the twentieth century, and

formed the base for the Bavarian map used by Ortelius, Mercator and oth-

ers. This map has been thoroughly studied by many scholars.

Fig. 9: The Bayerischen Landtafeln by Philipp Apian.

His excellent topographic work is supposedly based on astronomical, ge-

ometrical measurements and triangulation. It was shown that the accuracy

was best at the area around Ingolstadt (where he lived) and became less

accurate towards the periphery; which is a well known effect of triangula-

tion. The survey of the mountainous area is less accurate.

65

By studying the 24 map sheets it became clear that this wall map contains

also a double ring symbol, spread over all the maps. Out of thousand

known localities there are some 125 with a double ring. These 12.5% is in

accordance with the number of survey cities used by Van Deventer and

Surhon. This sign disappears in several later copies.

Some will argue that the double ring was symbol for a large city as in the

past some scholars thought about Van Deventer. It is true that there is a

legenda on the map sheet 23 which calls a double ring a symbol for Stadt.

It is also noted that this legenda is not present on the overall picture of the

wall map. I think as part of the hypothesis that this legenda was created by

one of the several copyists, unaware of the through meaning of the symbol.

Fig. 10: The survey symbol on Apian’s map.

A short angular measurement test (only 10 angles) showed an angle devia-

tion of 3.7°. This finding favors the validity of the hypothesis that P. Apian

used the Van Deventer method. This needs confirming by means of an ex-

tensive study.

66

8 Fate of the survey symbol

Before Van Deventer, 1536, the symbol does not appear on maps. The Ital-

ian copies of his maps indicate the same measurepoint localities but with

different symbols. Research in other 16th and 17th century maps show the

absence of the double ring symbol.

One must assume that the survey significance of the double ring in a lo-

cality was lost in time.

9 Conclusion

1. Van Deventer is the first cartographer in the world who, on the ba-

sis of a survey, produced topographical maps of large regions.

2. On all his maps he used a survey symbol to indicate the localities

from where he made his topographical measurements.

3. He created a survey system. His survey symbol was present on all

maps in a similar proportion, with comparable and accurate results

for angular measurements.

4. The Flanders map ‘faciebat Mercator’ is almost certainly the result

of Van Deventer’s topographical work.

5. His system was validated by J.Surhon who used the same system

and obtained similar topographic results.

6. The Artois map, signed Johanne, is the work from Jacobo.

7. Comparative angular deviations:

Table 6: Comparative angular deviation

Deventer Deventer Surhon Surhon

1 : 200,000 Kraeyenhoff 1 :

175,000

Cassini

Brabant 4.58° 4.72° Hannoniae 5.37° 3.37°

Holland 3.26° 2.84° Lutzenberg 4.93° -

Vlaanderen 2.54° 1.28° Artois 3.93° -

Gelderland 5.70° 2.48°

Friesland 4.71° 1.33°

Zeeland 3.56° 2.08°

Without any hesitation one may join Guiccardini who called Van Deventer

‘Grandissimo Geographo’.

67

References

Cassini de Thury (1775) “Carte des Pays Conquis par le Roi en 1774, 1745 et

1746. Levée Geometriquement”, In: Relation d’un voyage en Allemagne, Pa-

ris.

Duvosquel, J.-M. (2006) “Une œuvre inédite de Jacques de Surhon : la carte de la

terre abbatiale de Saint Hubert (1551)”, In: Bracke, W. (ed.) Margaritae car-

tographicae. Studia Lisette Danckaert 75um diem natalem agenti oblata,

Brussel, pp. 29-41. (Archief- en bibliotheekwezen in België / Archives et bi-

bliothèques de Belgique extranummer - numéro spécial 80)

Ghym, W. (s.d.) Vita celeberrini clarissimique viri Gerardi Mercatoris Rupel-

mondani.

Frisius, G. (1533) Libellus de locorum describendorum ratione, Antwerpen.

Frisius, G. (1537) Een boecxken seer nut ende profijtelijck allen geographiens lee-

rende, Antwerpen.

Karov, R.W. (1996) Mapmakers of the 16th century and their maps, s.l.

Koeman, C. (1964) Gewestkaarten van de Nederlanden door J. van Deventer

1536-1545, Alphen aan den Rijn.

Kraeyenhoff, C.R.T. (1827) Précis historique des opérations géodésiques et as-

tronomiques en Hollande, Den Haag.

Leenders, E. (2006) “De kaart van Vlaanderen van G.Mercator en J. van Deven-

ter”, Caert Thresoor, 25/4, pp. 108-115.

Leenders, E. (2008) “The Map of Flanders by G.Mercator and J. van Deventer”,

BIMCC.Newsletter, 8, p. 18.

Schilder, G. (1986) Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica, deel 1, Alphen aan

den Rijn.

Wolff, H. (1988) Cartographia Bavariae. Bayern im Bild der Karte, Weißenhorn.

Wolff, H. (1989) Philipp Apian und die cartographie der Renaissance, Weißen-

horn.

69

Map as metaphor

Inge Panneels Institute for International Research on Glass (IIRG), Faculty of Arts, De-

sign and Media, University of Sunderland, National Glass Centre, Liberty

Way, Sunderland SR6 0 GL, United Kingdom.

inge.panneels@sunderland.ac.uk

1 Introduction

Maps have acted as a universal metaphor and have been used throughout

cultures and times to visually organise information; a process that has tra-

ditionally been interpreted by artists, who were often employed as early

cartographers. Artists have also, by extension, used map iconography to

express their own ideas about the world. According to the Victoria and Al-

bert Museum’s Mapping the Imagination exhibition guide (2008) ‘maps

offer us a means of describing and understanding the intangible’. A map is

of course never truly an objective instrument but rather one shaped by its

time; artists have explored its potential to be subversive and create works

using maps as metaphors rather than measurements of high fidelity. The

integration of maps and mapping techniques is a manifestation of post-

modern art, where the appropriation of past styles and conventions is an

expression of its questioning nature. In mapping the cultural terrain, case

studies of the work of several international artists will set the context and

describe how they have assimilated maps into their works of art and ques-

tioned maps as instruments of truth-telling. The case studies, including the

author’s Liverpool Map, will demonstrate the use of both traditional hand-

drawn maps and contemporary digital mapping techniques to gather and

order complex data to create artworks with a sense of place. This is the no-

tion of the map as metaphor.

The cultural heritage of Mercator will be examined through Map-i; a

proposed personal re-evaluation of his legacy by the author. This art pro-

ject will be informed by an-artist-in-residency scheme at the Mercator Mu-

70

seum in Sint-Niklaas, which holds a collection of physical objects made or

related to the cartographer. Mercator considered his life’s most significant

work to be the publication of Atlas sive Cosmographiae Meditationes de

Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura, a synthesis of the history of heaven

and earth, an issue of particular relevance to the museum’s collection of

terrestrial and celestial globes. Mercator was a polymath whose scholarly

skills and craftsmanship were embodied in his work as a cartographer and

maker of globes. The importance of his making skills and his willingness

to engage with contemporary cutting edge technology and science will be

examined in the Map-i project, as will the relationship of the two-

dimensional map and the three-dimensional globe. The proposal is that the

choice of glass will be an apt metaphor as a window on the world. The re-

consideration of the Mercator globes from the 16th century and their ex-

panded mechanistic worldview, critical in the Age of Discovery and in-

formed by world exploration and early astronomical observations, will

contrast the 21st century digital quantum worldview.

2 Mapping the cultural terrain

If a map is an ‘interpretation of reality’ in scaled down version with ‘a

measurement of high fidelity’1 then the definition of maps as formulated

by Harley and Woodward in 1987 that ‘maps are graphic representations

that facilitate a spatial understanding of things, concepts, conditions, pro-

cesses, or events in the human world”2 is a broad and generous assertion.

Cartographers may disagree with this wider definition but for the purposes

of this argument, I refer to mapping in its widest possible meaning.

Historically artists were employed by cartographers to embellish maps but

increasingly mapmakers became regarded as painters3 between the 15

th and

18th centuries and thus art and cartography became intrinsically linked. The

1 Fairbairn, David, Dr, University of Newcastle, in discussion with Inge Panneels (February 10, 2011) 2 Definition formulated at the beginning of the first volume of their “History of Cartography”: Barber, Peter, “The Map Book” ( London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p6 3 Barber Peter – Harper, Tom, “Magnificent Maps: power, propaganda and art” (London: The British Library, 2010) p 16

71

Fra Mauro4 map has exquisite detail painted in both the main part of the

map as well as the Garden of Eden, controversially placed outside the out-

line of the world5. Maps are of course objects of their time, shaped and

coloured by political, social and cultural conditions as so ably demonstrat-

ed by the Magnificent Maps exhibition at The British Library in 2010, with

a strapline that read; power, propaganda and art. 6

Many contemporary artists have harnessed the power of maps as a means

for sharing their viewpoint and making political, social or cultural com-

mentary. The map format is used as a vocabulary with an expectation to be

able to extract information from it, as the visual literacy required to read

maps is commonplace; “Humans evolved with amazing navigational abili-

ties in our brains from an evolutionary perspective”7. Artists have used

their artistic license to appropriate the visual language of maps and subvert

them into their own work. Cartographic rules give artists assumptions to

play with and imagery to exploit. Since the 1960’s there has been a marked

increase in artists working with maps, perhaps not surprising within the

context of postmodern art where the appropriation of historical themes and

styles is commonplace; ‘in post-modern times8, with all truths suspect’

9,

4 Frau Mauro Map dates from around 1448 (2.39x2.29m), a copy of which is in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, Italy. Barber Peter – Harper, Tom, “Magnificent Maps: power, propaganda and art” (London: The British Library, 2010) p52 5 Up until that time, heaven had been depicted as an integral part of mappa mundi, not outside of it and in doing so the author was challenging the dominant religious world view. Barber Peter – Harper, Tom, “Magnificent Maps: power, propaganda and art” (London: The British Library, 2010) p 52 6 Mercator was aware of the power of maps; he had been commissioned by mer-chants from Ghent to produce a map to placate the Emperor Charles V to counter-act the inflammatory map produced by Pieter Van der Beke in 1538, which had caused a minor revolution. 7 Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive who argues that the correlation between the map on the phone and the internal map in your head is a natural way to navi-gate all kinds of information. Source: Markoff, John, “The Cellphone, navigating our lives” The New York Times (February 16, 2009)(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1) 8 Postmodernism is a philosophical movement in reaction to modernism; whereas modernism was mostly concerned with principles such as authority, unity and cer-tainty, postmodernism is often associated with difference, plurality and skepti-cism.

72

artists have also been able to play with the perceived neutrality of maps as

instruments of science.

If This Then That (The First Four: San Diego at the Centre of the World)

by the artists Helen and Newton Harrison depicts the world map in beauti-

ful sepia tones, not dissimilar to renaissance hand drawn maps, with the

explicit political message of climate change as early as 197410

.

The artist Mona Hatoum explores the recognizable iconography of map-

ping; Map (1999) is made up of clear glass marbles laid out in a world map

pattern on the floor in a traditional north facing Mercator projection. The

piece was shown at the South London Gallery in 2010 and the exhibition

booklet said: "Precariously balanced, fragile yet potentially dangerous,

Hatoum's work powerfully suggests the contingency that defines the geo-

political landscape"11

; the marbles were being moved by casual footfall

and randomly re-arranged, a commentary perhaps on the arbitrary re-

drawing of a political boundaries across a map, irrespective of social or

cultural associations? Hatoum used maps in other works including Conti-

nental Drift (2000)12

where the cut out of glass world map on the northern

Mercator projection, rests on a bed of metal filings underneath which a

magnetic arm rotates thus making the filings endlessly crash against the

coastlines, an experience which she described as both mesmerizing and

sinister.

Maps as depositaries of wholly imagined places are commonplace and are

often used as a literary device13

to access the imagined landscapes of a

novel. Turner Prize winner (2003) Grayson Perry’s Map of Nowhere

9 Harmon, Katharine, The Map as Art: contemporary artists explore cartography (New York: Princetown Architectural Press, 2009) p8 10 Kastner, Jeffrey – Wallis, Brian, Land and Environmental Art (London: Phaidon, 1998), p143 11 blogpost by Rodcorp, July 20th , 2006 about an exhibition of Mona Hatoum’s work at the South London Gallery in 2006 (http://rodcorp.typepad.com/rodcorp/2006/07/mona_hatoums_ma.html) 12 blogpost by Octavo, May 30th, 2011 about an exhibition of Mona Hatoum’s work at Tate Britain in 2010 (http://octavoblog.wordpress.com/tag/mona-hatoum/) 13 The map drawn on the inside cover pages of Tolkien’s imaginary hobbit world is crucial to unfolding of the story across the imagined landscape. Tolkien, J.R.R (1892-1973) wrote the fantasy trilogy Lord of the Rings in the 1920’s and which became bestsellers and turned into box office success with its eponymous films in the early 2000’s.

73

(2008) is a contemporary mappa mundi, a black and white etching of his

social inner landscape, which he states was based on the Ebstorf World

Map14

; both were exhibited at the Magnificent Maps exhibition where Per-

ry was one of only a handful of contemporary artists to be showcased

alongside the collection of historical maps. Perry states: “Most of my art

stems from seeing an artifact in a book or museum and then making my

own version of it. I make things that recognizably belong in traditional cat-

egories; pots, costumes, tapestries and maps”15

. Perry recently had a major

solo show at the British Museum; The Tomb of an Unknown Craftsman16

where he selected objects from the collection and curated an exhibition of

these objects, made by unknown craftsmen and woman, and placed these

alongside his own idiosyncratic work.

Other artists simply use physical maps as artefacts in their work; maps

have been cut, torn, pasted, layered, glued. Claire Brewster reincarnates

old maps and atlases by cutting them into exquisite delicate flowers, birds,

butterflies. Georgia Russell’s Britain March 2003 (Britain on Iraq)(2003)

cut a lace like outline of the UK out of the coloured map of the Arabian

peninsula. The jeweler Hannah Lamb engraves British coastlines on

matching rings, their site-specific nature have proved popular with newly-

weds. Samantha Clark Spill (2002) is an installation of 2000 glass droplets,

each with a tiny section of a map are mounted crawling on a wall.

Others use mapping as a technique to gather data. The artists Langlands

and Bell state that their work ‘focuses on the structures we inhabit and the

networks that permeate and link them, while reflecting at a wider global

level on the many ways space is encoded as social, political or economic

territory”17

. Plans, blueprints and maps feature frequently in their work; in

Air Routes of the World (diptych) (2001)18

, the air routes of the world are

plotted against an implied world map.

14 Ebstorf Map, circa 1300 no longer exists but a photographic reproduction was exhibited at Magnificent Maps, British Library, 2010. 15 Barber Peter – Harper, Tom, Magnificent Maps: power, propaganda and art (London: The British Library, 2010) p81 16 Grayson Perry: Tomb of an Unknown Craftsman, The British Museum, October 6th, 2011 – February 19th, 2012 17 Langlands and Bell website; introduction (http://www.langlandsandbell.com/index.html) 18 Langlands, Ben and Bell, Nikki, Routes of World (night) (2001), V&A Museum collection, London (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O81301/print-air-routes-of-the-world/)

74

The artist Ingrid Calame literally traces marks left on roads and painstak-

ingly maps them onto large paper sheets thus converting them into ‘con-

stellations of residue’19

.

Richard Long traces his solitary walks through the British countryside on

Ordnance Survey maps a temporal activity that could be made permanent

by plotting it on a physical map20

; Long attempts to ‘draw’ simple geomet-

ric shapes by walking their outline in the landscape, a three dimensional

activity transferred to a two dimensional map.

The digital researcher Chris Speed developed Drawing with Satellites with

artist Ether Polak, using GPS technology to ‘draw’ in the landscape, an ac-

tivity which was only made visible on the screen later and ‘retains some of

the magic that all astronomical instruments possess - a dimension of rec-

onciling the scale of the spaces that are outside of earths atmosphere with a

personal sense of place21

’.

Artists have been using mapping to create images for decades and under-

stood ‘that scientific measurement was not the be all and end all22

. Map-

ping has historically been based on geographical data, which gave us in-

formation about places, whereas in the digital age the gluttony of

information itself has to be mapped, which has lead to an entire new

branch of mapping; infographics23

or infostethics,24

as was humorously

19 Harmon, Katharine, The Map as Art: contemporary artists explore cartography (New York: Princetown Architectural Press, 2009) p106 20 Kastner, Jeffrey – Wallis, Brian, Land and Environmental Art (London: Phaidon, 1998), p35 21 Speed, Chris, Edinburgh College of Art, School of Architecture and Landscape; Drawing with Satelites, February 2011 (http://fields.eca.ac.uk/fields/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/DrawingWithSatellites.pdf) 22 Barber, Peter, The Map Book ( London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p7 23 McCandless; data journalist and author of Information is Beautiful (London; Collins, 2009) (http://www.ted.com/speakers/david_mccandless.html) (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html) 24 Information Aesthetics; where form follows data (http://infosthetics.com/)

75

demonstrated by David McCandless25

at TEDGlobal2010. “Mapping is of

course not just about cartography, it is also about imagery” said Blaise

Aguera y Arcas when he showcased augmented-reality maps at TED

201026

; maps have become interactive, enable time travel and encourage

and allow user participation and co-authorship; post modernism has be-

come mainstream. “The map underlies man’s ability to perceive,” said

Richard Saul Wurman, a graphic designer who was a pioneer in the use of

maps as a generalized way to search for information of all kinds before the

emergence of the online world27

. The desktop computer revolutionized the

way we organised information in files and folders, the World Wide Web

brought new ways of visualising the data stream and with the mobile

phone “a new metaphor is emerging for how we organise, find and use in-

formation. New in one sense, that is. It is also as ancient as humanity itself.

That metaphor is the map28

”

3 Mapping a sense of place

“The nature of the discipline of cartography ( ) covers a vast range of hu-

man activity and enquiry, including measurement science, data processing,

information technology, image analysis, graphic production, socio-

economic and environmental applications, institutional policy, aesthetics,

history, and culture ( )”29

. This range of human activity and enquiry is

what has attracted many artists to use mapping as a tool. It can be argued

that the process of making site-specific artwork is a form of mapping. It is

25 McCandless, David, The Beauty of data visualization, TEDGlobal 2010, filmed July 2010, posted August 2010 (http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.html) 26 Aguera y Arcas, Blaise TED talks; Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos augmented-reality maps, TED 2010, filmed and posted February 2010 (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/blaise_aguera.html) 27 Markoff, John, “The Cellphone, navigating our lives” The New York Times (February 16, 2009) (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1) 28 Markoff, John, “The Cellphone, navigating our lives” The New York Times (February 16, 2009) (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1) 29 Fairbairn, David, Dr, University of Newcastle, definition of geomatics on Dr Fairbairn homepage at the University of Newcastle website (http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/profiles2/dave.fairbairn)

76

as such no coincidence that many artists in the Land and Environmental

art movement, a category to which the works of Richard Long and the

Harrisons belong30

, use maps or mapping to embody or record a sense of

place. Working with specific locations where the context has to be mapped

to the site in an appropriate and relevant manner. Site-specific art works

that are generally considered successful in the long term, are those that are

rooted in its locale; “it draws attention to the environment around us. The

street becomes an artwork, and the public becomes complicit”31

. A sense

of public ownership is fostered through public engagement as demonstrat-

ed in Field of the British Isles (1993) by the sculptor Anthony Gormley32

where he asked the British public to mould a lump of clay into an amor-

phous figure, its only conformity two gaping holes for eyes. The Field pro-

ject was repeated in different locations across the world, each involving

local communities and materials, thus ensuring each project was embedded

with a sense of belonging.

This sense of place is also embedded in the Liverpool Map (2010), a sculp-

ture by Inge Panneels and Jeffrey Sarmiento, commissioned by the Muse-

um of Liverpool to commemorate Liverpool; City of Culture 2008. The re-

sulting glass sculpture is a cultural snapshot of the city anno 2008. It is

both a literal map, where visitors can pinpoint their locale, and a cultural

terrain of the City, the content of which was contributed by the public. The

contribution took the form of online polls, conducted by the Liverpool

Daily Post33

, where the public could vote on the status of cultural icons

and personalities. Written statements, both typed and handwritten, with

personal testaments about the city were collected by the newspaper and

museum respectively. All of this was data was collated by the artists and

embedded in the seventeen layers of glass that make up the sculpture, a

medium which was chosen for its ability to view information in layers in

three dimensions. The web-like structure of the city map, cut from opaque

30 Kastner, Jeffrey – Wallis, Brian, Land and Environmental Art (London: Phaidon, 1998) 31 Carson, Andrea; What makes public art good? The Huffington Post, 25 July 2011 (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrea-carson/public-art_b_907529.html) 32 Gormley, Anthony (http://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/chronology-item-view/id/2217) 33 The Liverpool Daily Post was the press partner in the project and was crucial in the public engagement aspect of the project by keeping the project tin the public’s mind over its three year timeframe, prior to the public opening of the Museum on the 19th July 2011.

77

white glass, provided the internal but highly visible structure of the map,

with the Mersey River placed centrally to account for its historical and ge-

ographical importance to the city, the region and its global connections.

The official and emotive boundaries of the city, as voted on the public, and

outlined by the project sponsor34

were cut from transparent blue, yellow

and red glasses. The spaces in between the streetscape, were intersected

with printed archive images of the chosen icons and personalities. The fi-

nal installation of the work, in The People’s Republic gallery of the new

Museum of Liverpool, overlooks the Mersey River and the Liver building,

both of which are referenced in the work35

. The direct literal connections

of the work to its site and the fact that viewers can find their way home on

the map, or recognize personal references in it, is what makes the Liver-

pool Map a sculpture which maps a sense of place36

for the people of Liv-

erpool..

The Liverpool Map was also a pivotal piece of work that directed me fur-

ther towards the field of mapping in art and the map as metaphor specifi-

cally37

. New work based on microscope and satellite images, which are

mapping our micro and macro cosmos, is exploring the interconnectedness

of things. On the final page of The Map Book38

, Peter Barber displays a

satellite image with the question; is this really a Map? It alludes to the fact

that the traditional boundaries of cartography are being eroded and that

mapping is becoming a much broader, interdisciplinary activity. Mapping

has allowed us to record for prosperity information about resources, to plot

military intelligence but primarily it has been a tool to help us to navigate

our world. The quest for understanding a sense of place, of belonging, is

34 The project was funded by Phil and Alexis Redmon, the Museum of Liverpool and the making of it supported by the University of Sunderland. 35 See Museum of Liverpool website; gallery highlights (http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/mol/visit/galleries/peoples/liverpool-map.aspx) 36 A book Liverpool in Layers; mapping a sense of place will be published about the Liverpool Map later in 2012 (Liverpool; Capsica, 2012) and will allow con-tributors to trace and dissects their contributions in detail. 37 There is a direct if tenuous link between Liverpool and Mercator; a bronze stat-ue of Mercator was commissioned by the philanthropist and publisher Henry Yates Thompson (1838-1929) and sculpted by the French sculptor Léon-Joseph Chavalliaud (c1858-1921) and graces one of the corners of the octagonal Palm House in Sefton Park, the latter is of course embedded in the Liverpool Map as a significant location. 38 Barber, Peter, The Map Book ( London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005) p354

78

fundamental to our human nature and this universal search forms the es-

sence of my work.

4 The cultural heritage of Mercator

As a native Belgian, my abiding memory of the Flemish school system of

the 1980’s, apart from unsuccessful crochet attempts, were the bright pull

down maps which charted the geography of Europe and brought the histor-

ical changes of the Low Countries alive with its vivid colours. History les-

sons not only charted Flanders’ turbulent past and changing allegiances but

also illuminated some of its illustrious compatriots39

. Belgium is of course

a relatively young nation (1830) but as Flanders was an intellectual strong-

hold40

, during the Middle Ages, many world-renowned names originated

from the Low Countries before it separated into current Belgium and the

Netherlands. The names of Jan van Eyck (c1395-1441), Hieronymus

Bosch (c1450-1516), Pieter Brueghel the Elder (c1525-1569) and Pieter

Paul Rubens (1577-1640) might be familiar; artists who had the patronage

of the prosperous mercantile class, the clergy and royalty. The rich palette

of Flemish painting and the wonderful tales of discovery as expressed in

the vivid school maps have become intrinsically linked; Rubens became

not just ‘a painter from Antwerp’, but a significant European artist who in-

fluenced a whole new school of painting and Mercator was not simply a

local mapmaker but justifiable one of the most important cartographers of

the Modern Era. Mercator was a polymath41

with all the skills required to

become an excellent cartographer and globemaker42

, taking full advantage

39 It is a running joke amongst my British friends and a frequently asked pubquiz question; can you name 10 famous Belgians? 40 The relative safety and tolerance of the Low Countries, where the emerging hu-manist philosophy was gaining ground, attracted many European scholars. The University of Leuven -founded in 1425- included esteemed scholars such as the theologian and humanist Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536), the anatomist and phy-sician Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) and the cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) 41 He received a humanist education with a thorough grounding in Latin, grammar, rhetoric, logic and geography; the latter was taught as a means to study etymolo-gy, as most place names had been recorded by classical scholars ; an education as outlined in Erasmus’ treatise de ratione studii; Crane, Nicolas, “Mercator; the man who mapped the planet”(London: Phoenix, 2002) p36 42 When his mentor and tutor Gemma Frisius (1508-1555) was offered a formal Imperial Charter by the reigning Spanish emperor Charles V (1500-1558) in 1535

79

of the emerging new printing techniques 43

and the discoveries made by the

explorers44

for Mercator was a scholar who combined ancient learning

with the most current research45

. The Age of Discovery can retrospectively

be seen as a bridge between the dogmatic doctrine of the Middle Ages and

the cultural renaissance of the Modern Era. The advent of printing, of dis-

tributing ideas and concepts quickly, heralded an era of unprecedented

transfer of knowledge, probably not seen again until the 20th century and

the invention of the worldwide web. Mercator happened to be the right

man in the right place at the right time.

The choice of the work of Mercator as a source of inspiration was made

because of its historical reference, its cultural connections and its enduring

international significance. The Mercator Museum collection in Sint-

Niklaas, Belgium will form the prime source of inspiration for a new body

of work being developed. An artist-in-residency scheme in early 2012 will

allow access to the collection46

for investigation. Objects of particular in-

terest currently, are the Earth globe from 1541 and its corresponding celes-

tial counterpart as globes have featured previously in my own works;

Creationseries was a collection of globes based on creation mythologies

from around the world, which chronicle the coming into being of heaven

and earth, and is now in the Dexia collection in Brussels. An unconscious

to make a globe which reflected the new world view and would be like no other seen, Mercator was called in to assist. The globe was duly completed with great success and Mercator’s reputation as a cartographer was cemented. Mercator con-tinued his collaboration in 1537 with Frisius on a celestial partner to the terrestrial globe. 43 Founded by Christoffel Plantin (1520-89) in Antwerp, spawned by the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) 44 Tales of discovery brought back from intrepid explorers such as the Italian Marco Polo (1254- 1324) and the Portugese Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) and Vasco Da Gama (1469-1524) were expanding the worldview beyond the confines of Europe and changing the ancient geography as espoused by Ptolemy’s (cAD 90- cAD168) Geographia and Almagest, whose work had only recently re-emerged with a 15th century Latin translation. 45 As taught by Mercator’s mentor Gemma Frisius (1508-1555), a brilliant mathe-matician and astronomer who fearlessly compared the dogmatic teaching of an-cient knowledge with current research Taylor, Andrew, “The world of Gerard Mercator; the mapmaker who revolution-ized geography” (London: Harper Collins, 2004) p60 46 The Museum is also currently developing a project called ‘Mercator 2012’ with the purpose of digitalizing the Mercator archive.

80

but fitting connection was found years later with the globe painted on the

closed shutters of the triptych Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch47

.

Globes and maps were highly valued and prized collectables by the estab-

lishment, which like their counterparts in painting, reflected the aspiration-

al values of their collectors.

Mercator considered his life’s most significant work to be the publication

of Atlas sive Cosmographiae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati

Figura, a synthesis of the history of heaven and earth48

. The compilation of

his life’s work in a bound book of maps, coined the term atlas as we know

it today but Mercator’s major and long lasting achievement was the devel-

opment of the eponymous projection and was first seen in his celebrated

World Map of 1569. Perhaps the most compelling evidence of the endur-

ance of Mercator’s work, was the re-publication of Atlas in CD format in

200049

and the use of a variant of his projection by the major online street

mapping services50

for their map images, for despite its obvious scale vari-

ation at small scales, the projection is well-suited as an interactive world

map that can be zoomed seamlessly to large-scale (local) maps and vice-

versa with relatively little distortion. The advent of digital mapping which

recently includes 3D mapping and user interaction has grown exponential-

ly in the last decade; maps are becoming integral to our lives and the ap-

plications we use on a daily basis. Mercator’s legacy lives on 500 years

later.

My childhood fascination with colourful maps remains, even though most

school maps probably dated from the early 20th century

51, and many a car-

tographer has had a bemused reaction when I was extolling the aesthetic

47 Dated from between 1490 and 1510, this masterpiece was acquired by Philip II of Spain (1527-1589) and bequeathed from the Royal Collection to the Museo del Prado in Madrid where it is still on public display. 48 Mercator had made it his life’s work to investigate ‘the mysteries of nature”48 , a potentially dangerous pursuit, and although Mercator himself saw no clash in ‘the contemplation of Nature’48 as to study Creation was a way to understand its na-ture, the contemporary authorities may have considered it heretic. 49 Monmonier, Mark, Rhumb Lines and Map Wars (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2004) p45 50 such as Bing Maps, Google Maps, MapQuest, Yahoo Maps, and others; source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercator_projection) 51 Little did I understand the controversy that the Mercator projection of these childhood maps would cause in 1974 when Arno Peters proposed an alternative to Mercator.

81

virtues of their work rather than scientific ones. At heart, I remain an aes-

thete and not a scientist. The Map-i project proposes that the choice of

glass will be an apt metaphor as a window on the world and its resulting

work will be exhibited in Sint-Niklaas in 201352

. The re-consideration of

the Mercator globes from the 16th century and their expanded mechanistic

worldview, critical in the Age of Discovery and informed by world explo-

ration and early astronomical observations, will attempt to contrast the 21st

century digital quantum worldview. Physicists and scientists are busy

modeling this new view of the world in relation to the expanded cosmos

and are at a similar point now to where Mercator was 500 years ago when

he tried to assimilate all the disparate tales of discovery and fragments of

information into a coherent body of work with his Atlas. But perhaps a

word of caution from Einstein from 1951: “All the fifty years of conscious

brooding have brought me no closer to answer the question, 'What are light

quanta?' Of course today every rascal thinks he knows the answer, but he

is deluding himself”.

5 Conclusion

The American artist James Turrell has made light his medium of choice; in

his seminal work Mapping Spaces (1987) he states; “The work I do does

not have to do with science or demonstrations of scientific principles. My

work has to do with perception-how we see and how we perceive. Though

I use the information and need the help of people in the sciences to calcu-

late positions of celestial events and to solve problems of refraction caused

by changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature, for example, my

work does not push the boundaries of science. I think artists have a lot

more to do with investigating the limits of perception than science does at

this time. The basic difference though, is one of intent. I am more interest-

ed in posing questions than answering them”.

As Turrell states, the main objective is the intent to question; the answers

may not be forthcoming but I hope it will be a delightful exploration where

the journey is as important as the destination, and its many stations will be

mapped along the way.

52 At time of going to press, an informal offer of exhibition at SteM, the regional cultural museum and adjacent to the Mercator Museum in Sintniklaas, was offered for 2013 but concrete details were to be confirmed.

82

References

Aguera y Arcas, B. (2010) TED talks; Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos augmented-

reality maps, TED2010, filmed and posted February 2010.

(http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/blaise_aguera.html)

Barber, P. (2005) The Map Book, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

Barber, P., Harper, T. (2010) Magnificent Maps: power, propaganda and art ,

London: The British Library.

Carson, A. (2011) “What makes public art good?” The Huffington Post, 25 July

2011.

(http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/andrea-carson/public-art_b_907529.html)

Clark, S. (2002)

(http://www.samanthaclark.net/artworks/2002/29/Spill)

Crane, N. (2002) Mercator; the man who mapped the planet, London: Phoenix.

Gormley, A.

(http://www.antonygormley.com/sculpture/chronology-item-view/id/2217)

Harmon, K. (2009) The Map as Art: contemporary artists explore cartography,

New York: Princetown Architectural Press.

Kastner, J., Wallis, B. (1998) Land and Environmental Art, London: Phaidon.

Langlands, B., Bell, N.

(http://www.langlandsandbell.com/www.html)

Markoff, J. (2009) “The Cellphone, navigating our lives” The New York Times,

February 16, 2009

(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/science/17map.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1)

McCandless, D. (2009) Information is beautiful, London: Collins.

McCandless, D. (2010) The Beauty of data visualization, TEDGlobal 2010, filmed

July 2010, posted August 2010

(http://www.ted.com/talks/david_mccandless_the_beauty_of_data_visualization.ht

ml)

Monmonier, M. (2004) Rhumb Lines and Map Wars, Chicago: The University of

Chicago Press.

Parker, M. (2009) Map Addict, London: Collins.

Pearman, H. (2011) “Plot on the landscape; why so many artists and makers are

fascinated by maps?” Crafts: the magazine for contemporary craft Nr233,

Nov-Dec 2011, p40-43.

Speed, C. (2011) Drawing with Satellites; an ESALA GPS drawing project

(http://fields.eca.ac.uk/fields/wp-

content/uploads/2011/03/DrawingWithSatellites.pdf)

Taylor, A. (2004) The world of Gerard Mercator; the mapmaker who revolution-

ized geography, London: Harper Collins.

The U.S. Department of the Army (2009) The U.S Army Guide to map reading

and land navigation, New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

Turrell, J. (1987) Mapping Spaces: a topological survey of the work of James

Turrell, New York: Peter Blum Edition.

Whitfield, P. (1995) The Mapping of the Heavens, London: The British Library.

Abstracts

85

Cartographic typography: Gerard Mercator’s contribution

Maria Graciela Borozuki National Geographic Institute, Cabildo 381, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Ar-

gentina

gborozuki@ign.gob.ar

Abstract. Rupelmonde in 1512. The Early Sixteenth Century was the most

favorable time in which a man with the talent, vision and interest of Gerard

Mercator might have been born. That was a time of discoveries and navi-

gation. Maps users claimed for greater accuracy.

He understood this situation and improved it. It has been assumed that the

cartography can be divided into two different phases: a decorative phase,

in which geographical information was portrayed without accuracy and a

second phase, scientific, in which accuracy took a very important place.

But in that time navigators needed cartographic information.

He recognized the iconographic caracter of maps, and the sources and de-

velopment of such cartographic elements as color, symbols design but es-

sentially lettering. On Gemma's Globe Mercator had used the italic scripts,

called the sweet roman hand for its lightness and easy reading, which had

been developed in Florence. This style of lettering that he adopted, italic,

was appropriate to his purpose: Gerard Mercator wanted his maps to be

used and every element of their design that made it easier to do so was im-

portant.

Gerard Mercator understood mapping as a form of geographic information,

so he considered lettering as an essential element. His contribution was in-

tegrated in a book that he wrote when he was twenty eight years old: the

Handwritting Manual Litterarurn Latinarum, quas Italicas, cursoriasque

vocant, scribendarum Ratio, Lovanium 1540, in which he examines the let-

ters elements as slope, pen angle, letter proportion, lenght of ascenders and

spacing. He treated each item separately and interrelating every part a sin-

86

gle system. It's known that the whole style of the script is affected if one of

the topics is changed or neglected.

Some cartographers have claimed that the names on maps complicate the

representation. They argued that the view of the Earth from above is unen-

cumbered by names. On the other hand maps are made to show where the

things are and to do this, it is very important to be able to tell what is what

is being seen. What have we learned from Gerard Mercator about typogra-

phy on maps? This work is a trip revisiting his teachings and applications

that allow us to rethink mapping as an integration of art and information.

87

The world map by Gerard Mercator (1569) in the shape of an atlas revisited

Sjoerd de Meer Maritime Museum Rotterdam, Leuvehaven 1, 3011 EA Rotterdam, The

Netherlands

s.demeer@maritiemmuseum.nl

Abstract. Mercator’s fame is for a part derived from the world map Nova

et aucta Orbis Terrae descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accomo-

data he published in august 1569 in Duisburg. It is the world map in

which Mercator proposed a new projection which became known as the

Mercator projection which is used until today.

Hundreds of Mercator’s world maps were printed in the sixteenth century.

Nowadays only three copies of his map still exist, one in Paris, the other

one in Basel and the third in Rotterdam. A fourth copy in Wroclaw (the

former Breslau) was destroyed at the end of the Second World War. Two

sheets of the world map can be found in the 'Atlas of Europe' nowadays in

the British library.

The Rotterdam copy is unusual. It is not a wall map, but bound in the

shape of an atlas. Also it is coloured presumably in the atelier of Mercator

himself. A facsimile in black and white of the Rotterdam copy was pub-

lished in 1961 in cooperation with Imago Mundi. In 2011 a new facsimile

in full colour was published.

This paper focuses on the world map by Mercator in the shape of an atlas

as an ‘object’. It explores the questions why this Mercator world map was

acquired by the Maritime Museum Rotterdam, what research into this

world map (its pedigree and characteristics) has taken place and how this

world map is used and preserved in the context of a museum collection.

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Mercator’s magnetic work, recalculated

Hugo Decleir Department of Geography, Free University of Brussels, Belgium

Hugo.Decleir@vub.ac.be

Abstract. Mercator’s interest in the earth’s magnetic field can be followed

over a time interval of more than 30 years and appears from the study of

two important letters written by Mercator (one letter to the bishop of Arras,

the other as an instruction manual destined for Charles V) and from the in-

formation contained in the legends and the geography of his maps, pub-

lished during that period. A number of historians of science have drawn

the attention to this specific aspect of Mercator’s contribution to science,

however no comprehensive study, including a critical review and accurate

check of his calculations has been made up to now. The present paper will

focus on this last aspect.

We will show how Mercator, after having proved that the magnetic pole is

situated not in the heavens but at the surface of the earth, introduced a

mathematical model (great circle field lines converging at the magnetic

pole) to describe the observed magnetic field. This model allowed him to

explain the observed variation of the declination in function of latitude and

longitude and to criticise the shipmasters who did not take this variation

into account in their dead reckoning navigation. The model was among

other things employed by Mercator to estimate the declination in Danzig

based on the shipmaster’s miscalculations. Mercator’s major concern how-

ever was to find the geographic coordinates of the north magnetic pole.

This search consisted in solving the spherical triangle formed by the inter-

section of the magnetic field lines passing through two distinct places with

known magnetic declination and the great circle distance between those

two places. Alternatively he used the knowledge of the declination at one

place with known geographic coordinates and the location of the zero iso-

gon (line of zero declination), as reported by the ship’s captains. Employ-

ing Mercator’s original data, or reliable estimates, we recalculated all his

cases and found, contrary to Mercator’s own calculations in 1546, 1552

89

and partly in 1569, a very consistent picture of the emplacement of the

magnetic north pole. However, we do not know as yet how Mercator

solved the spherical triangle, numerically or graphically.

Mercator’s ultimate aim was - just as with his masterwork ‘Ad usum navi-

gantium’ - to solve a mariner’s problem, in this case finding the longitude

at sea by measuring the declination, and knowledge of the latitude and the

coordinates of the magnetic north pole. Solving the spherical triangle nu-

merically for this purpose appears straightforward. However, Mercator de-

scribed in his ‘Declaratio’ only a semi-graphical method to be used with

the double globe instrument made for Charles V. Furthermore, by allowing

the zero isogon and the prime meridian to coincide, Mercator tried to give

the prime meridian a geophysical meaning instead of a political choice. In

short, Mercator’s geophysical insight and repeated efforts to ameliorate the

calculation of the magnetic pole, by using each time new data, reveals a

picture of an experimental scientist at work, a worthy precursor of the gi-

ants of the Scientific Revolution of the following century.

90

Secret Maps of Early Modern Spain

Benjamin Ehlers Department of History, LeConte Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA

30602, USA

behlers@uga.edu

Abstract. Amid the many recent studies on atlases, cosmographies, and

published city-views, a few scholars have focused rather on secret maps, or

maps not intended for public consumption. In Mapping for Money, Kees

Zandvliet argued that the Spanish and the Portuguese strove to maintain

the secrecy of their cartographical collections, in keeping with their view

of maps as instruments of empire: only by guarding knowledge of currents

and coastlines could they maintain their monopolies and trade routes. The

Dutch, by the same token, commissioned navigational and hydrographic

maps for internal purposes, in the administration of their Eastern and

Western trading companies. The collections of the Archivo del Reino de

Valencia, in eastern Spain, house a series of secret maps of another kind.

The records of the Real Audiencia, an appellate court, include several

maps created specifically as exhibits in disputes over territorial boundaries,

farmland, water use, and the maintenance of irrigation canals. In form and

composition, these maps bear out Ricardo Padrón’s point that linear, medi-

eval maps persisted in the early modern period alongside the mathematical

projections of Gerard Mercator. Whereas Padrón argues that Spanish maps

of the New World correlated to physical descriptions in chronicles, the

maps in the Real Audiencia reflect the biases and objectives of the towns

involved in litigation. In depicting rural spaces, waterways, and populated

areas, the cartographers commissioned to create these maps promoted not

an imperial or commercial agenda, but rather the local interests of their cli-

ents. Just as lawyers testified against the baptized Muslims of Valencia as

a drain upon the region’s resources, for example, so the mapmakers used

color, altered perspective, and notations to characterize the Moriscos as a

looming menace in visual terms.

91

In the early modern period, royal mapping projects such as public cosmog-

raphies and the collection of data for administrative purposes co-existed in

tension with local perspectives. Richard Kagan has traced the means by

which chorographers used both modern projection techniques and commu-

nal symbols in order to celebrate the virtues, historical events, and archi-

tecture of their cities. The secret maps of the Archivo del Reino de Valen-

cia – unpublished in any format to the best of my knowledge – defy our

expectations, revealing an alternative world of cartography in the service

of local, polemical concerns.

92

Mapping American History in The Tempest

David Evans Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada

dhevans@Dal.ca

Abstract. Cartography is as much an imaginative activity as a scientific

one, and maps inevitably shape our moral and symbolic sense of the world

as much as they express our geographic understanding of it. A case in

point is the challenge presented by the discovery of America, to which

cartographers responded in two opposed ways, presenting the New World

as an extension of Asia, or as a truly new world physically separated from

the old one. Martin Waldseemuller’s seminal world map of 1507 depicted

America as a distinct continent, but there would be no empirical support

for this decision until Cook’s voyages more than two centuries later, and

throughout the 16th maps of each kind were printed. It can be argued that

the cartographical depiction of a distinct America reinforced a conviction

about the moral status of the new world as a place with no history, where

life can begin afresh from new origins – a notion which would eventually

become a key component of the complex of doctrine’s that go under the

rubric of “American Exceptionalism.”

My argument is that this cartographical controversy is one of the things

behind Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The play deals with the question both

of physical isolation and the possibility of beginning history over again –

of both physical and historical discontinuity. But while Shakespeare rec-

ognizes the temptation to exceptionalism, it is ultimately the dangers of the

isolation of the self on a physical and historical island (I-land), and the

willful amnesia that makes it possible. The images of cartography that en-

able us to understand the earth, that is, become deeply problematic when

they are unconsciously converted into metaphors that give meaning to our

world.

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A tenacious Atlantic legend. From the so-called "Flemish Islands" to the imaginary island "Flanders"

John Everaert Department of Colonial and Maritime History, Ghent University, Belgium

john.everaert@ugent.be

Abstract. The maritime oral fantasy had created a series of legendary is-

lands in the northern Atlantic Ocean, borrowed by the late medieval travel

accounts and primitive charts. Surprisingly enough, Mercator put on his

world map (1569) an imaginary island “Vlaenderen” (Flanders). Up to the

17th century this aberration will persist on some maritime maps.

Where did the father of the modern cartography get his inspiration for this

strange anomaly? Most probably, already in Antwerp as well as during his

exile in Duisburg, he took cognizance of the so-called “Flemish islands”,

as the Azores were initially named. But this nomenclature was also par-

tially fake for being forced on the first terrestrial globe (1492) attributed to

Martin Behaim. As a matter of fact, because of his family link with the

first Flemish colonial entrepreneurs, the latter had exaggerated the impor-

tance of the Flemish settlements in the archipelago.

94

Squaring the circle: how Mercator did it in 1569

Joaquim Alves Gaspar CIUHCT, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, Edificio C4, 1749-016

Lisboa, Portugal

alvesgaspar@netcabo.pt

Abstract. A cartometric analysis of the Mercator world map of 1569 is

presented and discussed, aiming to assess its navigational accuracy and

contribute to a better knowledge of its geometry, sources and construction.

Modern digital tools are used, identical to the ones I have recently applied

to the study of the Cantino planisphere, which include georeferencing and

the assessment of scales, geographic coordinates and directions. To my

knowledge this is the first time such type of quantitative analysis of Mer-

cator’s map is presented.

Three independent components of the positional accuracy of the map are

considered, all affecting its quality as a navigational chart: the accuracy of

the graticule, which is measured by the agreement between the position of

the meridians and parallels with the theoretical grid of the cylindrical con-

formal projection ; the absolute positional accuracy of the places, that is,

the accuracy of their latitudes and longitudes as measured on the map and

compared with the corresponding exact values; and the relative positional

accuracy of the places, whose most important component is the accuracy

of the rhumb-line directions connecting them.

Relevant historical insights can be obtained from the results of the analysis

concerning the construction method used to draw the graticule, and the

origin and accuracy of the geographic information. It is a well-known fact

that the Mercator projection was mostly ignored by the pilots at the time it

as presented and that its full adoption by marine navigation had to wait

some two hundred years until magnetic directions were abandoned and ef-

fective methods for finding longitude were invented. Whether the initial

resistance of the pilots had anything to do with the lack of navigational ac-

curacy of the map is a possibility that will be investigated.

95

The Far East in the Mercator's World map in 1569

Koji Hasegawa Institute of Geography, Graduate School of Humanities, Kobe University,

1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501, Japan

hasegawa@lit.kobe-u.ac.jp

Abstract. From the western point of view, the Far East, Japan has long

been a mythical place since Marco Polo’s Description of the World written

in c.1299. The first mention of Japan in maps can be confirmed in the

world map of Fra Mauro in c.1459 as the Ixola de cimpagu inserted in the

Far East as only a small island with rocky hill, but the situation is totally

different from the description of Marco Polo. A faithful reflection of it ap-

peared in the terrestrial globe of Martin Behaim in 1492. Off the east coast

of China, the oblong island Zipangu extends north to south. In

B.Bordone’s book Isolario published in 1528, the island of Ciampagu ap-

peared as an oblong island extending east to west including hills, trees and

palaces. Until this stage of maps Japan remains the imaginary island.

The real information and figure of Japan was brought to the West by

Portuguse traders and Jesuit monks. The most eminent modern catographer

G. Mercator depicts Japan in his famous world map published in 1569.

The great oval island includes several actual place names, supplemented

by Ryukyu in the south-west and the imaginary Miyako islands in the

north-west. This so-called Mercator type of Japan has been considered to

be derived from J.Gastaldi’s map.

In this paper comparing the description of Marco Polo with the expressions

in European and Japanes maps, the presenter would like to make clear how

the mythcal island of Japan, the wonder of the Far East, appears in the

Mercator’s world map and investigate the source of this figure, as well as

trying to elucidate the enigmatic Streto de Anian between the Far East and

North America.

96

The sale of atlases by the Antwerp Plantin Press

Dirk Imhof

Plantin-Moretus Museum, Jan Moorkensstraat 58, 2600 Berchem, Belgium

Dirk.Imhof@stad.Antwerpen.be

Abstract. In books or articles on atlases from the 16th and 17th centuries,

we often read about how expensive these books were. The only people

who could afford them must have been rich merchants, nobles or court

members. Consequently, such atlases as those made by Gerard Mercator,

Gerard de Jode or Abraham Ortelius must have been consulted by a very

small group of readers. However, a systematic account of these sales has

not yet been made. In my talk I will document the sale of Mercator and

Ortelius atlases in detail in order to provide a better understanding of their

distribution.

The archives of the Plantin Press offer a rare opportunity to document the-

se sales more accurately. In particular, the Plantin Press was actively in-

volved in the distribution of Ortelius’s atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,

since the first edition appeared in 1570. After the printing of the maps,

Plantin and his successor Jan Moretus I bought a large number of atlases

back from Ortelius for further distribution. The number of atlases bought

by the Plantin bookshop varied from ca. 20 % to the complete run of all

the copies of an edition. Aside from the limited number of preserved cop-

ies themselves, the account books recording these sales are now the only

source for documenting the spread and the reading public of these books.

Moreover, knowing more about the general distribution of these books can

also better inform us about the relative impact of the varying texts that

were printed on the verso of each map in Ortelius’s atlases. These accom-

panying texts provided information on the region depicted and were print-

ed either in Latin or in one of several vernacular languages. However, it

appears that the vernacular versions of these texts were not just a simple

translation of the Latin, but completely different, lacking, for example, the

Latin references to Antiquity or quotations from classical authors. Presum-

ably, the atlases with Latin texts would have been bought primarily by

97

learned scholars, while the atlases with texts in the vernacular languages

were intended for a public of merchants or other interested readers who

were less familiar with Latin or classical texts in general. An analysis of

the distribution of these works will help determine whether this was, in-

deed, the case.

Although Plantin is known for selling many of Mercator’s large wall maps,

only a small number of his atlases were sold via the Plantin Press. Never-

theless, when these records are considered in conjunction with the more

extensively documented sales of Ortelius’s atlas, the result will be a better

understanding of them and their place in the broader context of the distri-

bution of comparable cartographic materials at this time.

98

Cartesius: one graphical geoportal combines four types of institutions for Belgium and Africa

Rink Kruk1, B. Pigeon2, W. Bracke2, M. Carnier3, L. Verachten3, B. Verschueren3, D. Baudet4, D. Van Hassel4, M. Fernandez4, P. Verheyen1, G. Gryseels4, K. Velle3, P. Lefèvre2, I. Vanden Berghe1

1 National Geographic Institute Belgium, Abdij Ter Kameren 13, 1000

Brussels, Belgium

rwk@ngi.be 2 Royal Library of Belgium, Keizerslaan 4, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

3 State Archives Belgium, Ruisbroekstraat 2, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

4 Royal Museum for Central Africa, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren,

Belgium

Abstract. The Cartesius project aims to virtually combine the collections

of old maps and aerial photographs of four Belgian federal institutions, by

making them digitally accessible through the internet for the general public

and the scientific community. The project opens up the largest collections

of maps and aerial photographs on Belgium and Central Africa to the

world. The pioneering institutions are the Royal Library, the State Ar-

chives, the Royal Museum for Central Africa and the National Geographic

Institute of Belgium. As a matter of fact, the project forms the Cartesius

centre of excellence for the federal cartographic patrimony, a place where

the institutions share their specific skills, knowledge and experiences.

The project focuses in first instance on the development of a common

geoportal that enables the end-user to search, find and look at the available

maps, cityscapes, aerial photographs, etc. of the four institutions (virtually

any geolocalizable object), irrespective of the ownership of the objects.

Most importantly, the portal allows end-users to delimit an area of interest

on a base map of Belgium or Africa as a search criterion, besides tradition-

al search criteria.

99

Secondly, the development of the portal acts as a lever for the development

of a common metadata model, the scanning and description of the physical

objects, and includes often adaptation of existing metadata –for example

adding geographic coordinates for a polygon or point and scale. Our aim is

to comply with internationally recognized metadata models for geo-

objects: i.e. ISO19125 and INSPIRE. It also pushes the institutions to

make their (meta)data accessible through open standard services that can

be connected to the central Cartesius website.

The strengths of the project are that:

- Old maps and aerial photographs are becoming easily accessible to

and recoverable for the general public, while they were not before;

- Physical objects can remain untouched and reproduction of maps,

aerial photographs, etc. can be carried out quicker and easier by the

use of e.g. (photo) plotters;

- Four different types of institutions are working together, apart from

combining collections virtually, they share knowledge, skills and

experiences in reality;

- Software, web services, IT architecture developed in the project is

developed once and can be used by the four institutions and others;

- The IT-architecture is scalable, i.e. other institutes can step into the

Cartesius project too, using open standards and internationally rec-

ognized metadata standards.

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The pre-history of the Mercator projection

Henrique Leitao1, Joaquin Alves Gaspar1 and J. Filipe Queiró2 1 CIUHCT, University of Lisbon, Campo Grande, Edificio C4, 1749-016

Lisboa, Portugal

leitao.henrique@gmail.com 2 Department of Mathematics, University of Coimbra

Abstract. The conformal cylindrical projection, first presented by Gerard

Mercator in 1569, is justly considered a major landmark in the history of

cartography and marine navigation. In this paper, it is shown how its de-

velopment was the culmination of a long intellectual debate, started by the

Portuguese mathematician Pedro Nunes in 1537, around the concept of

rhumb-line and the way to represent it on globes and charts. Besides Nunes

these discussions involved some of the finest scientific minds of Early

Modern Europe, including Gemma Frisius, John Dee and Edward Wright.

101

The influence of Gerard Mercator on the work of Michiel Coignet (1549-1623)

Ad Meskens Artesis Hogeschool Antwerpen, Keizerstraat 15, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgi-

um

ad.meskens@artesis.be

Abstract. The Antwerp mathematician Michiel Coignet (1549-1623) is

best remembered as one of the fathers of the sector. He wrote the only 16th

century Antwerp manual on navigation. In this book he calculates the

length of a loxodrome and uses Mercator’s theory of the magnetic pole as

a solution for the problem of the determination of longitude. He is known

to have corresponded with Mercator about the prime meridian.

In the beginning of the seventeenth century he edited Ortelius’ Epitome to

which he added maps in a Mercatorprojection. In his manuscripts on the

sector he shows that he is able to calculate the grid for such maps.

102

A GIS analysis of the 1633 planning of Venetian guardposts on Crete (Greece)

Steven Soetens, C. Geerdink, E. Barbetsea and R. Verhagen Institute of Geo- and Bioarchaeology, VU University Amsterdam, De

Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

s.soetens@vu.nl

Abstract. In 1633, Nicolo Gualdo de Priorati prepared a plan to improve

the existing guardpost system on Venetian Crete against Ottoman piracy

attacks.

In the written documentation, he included a schematic representation of the

island of Crete on which actual lines of sight between the guardposts are

drawn. In terms of historical cartography this document is remarkable. It

allows for the tracing of Venetian remains in today’s landscape, and much

more.

The text has been elaborately studied by historian Maria Arakadaki (1997)1

and the scanned drawing is now under GIS investigation by students of the

Institute of Geo- and Bioarchaeology of the VU University Amsterdam.

We are verifying the precise location of the guardposts, on the detection of

highest elevation points in a digital elevation model and we analyse the

visibility of those points, in relation to each other and the Venetian/Cretan

toponymy. Not all of the guardposts have survived but GIS allows us to es-

tablish their location for eventual archaeological field investigation. Their

relation to the main settlements of Candia (now Iraklion) and other Vene-

tian cities can also be spatially investigated on the effectiveness of this

plan as a military tool against the pirates. After all, only 36 years later in

1669, the island is part of the Ottoman Empire.

The results so far include amongst others:

1 Arakadaki, M. (1997) “Diagramma tou Diktyou Aktofrourwn ths Krhths apo thn

ekthesh tou Nicolo Gualdo de Priorati (1633)”, Kritologika Grammata 13, 49-80

103

- a list of the original guardposts with precise coordinates, and present

day toponymy,

- a minimum estimated elevation for the towers of bonfires necessary

for the planned intervisibility based on viewshed analysis

- an evaluation of the effectiveness of the guardpost system

- a GIS map of 17th century Venetian Crete

This research originates in the study of Minoan (Bronze Age) mountain

sanctuaries, which happen to coincide with many of these Venetian guard

posts. In-the- field investigation may then clarify the chronology of the

remaining ashlayers that have repeatedly been related to the Bronze Age

sites, because they were discovered in the context of Bronze Age archae-

ology. This means that we will also be able to better define the character of

those Bronze Age sites, since the discovered ashlayers have probably been

related too easily to those sanctuaries, which are mainly involved in rituals

about fertility and livestock.

It is hoped that in the future a field study of selected sites will be possible

to disclose a number of “lost” Venetian guard posts as well as clarify the

nature and chronology of the ashlayers. If the ashlayers are a pure Vene-

tian phenomenon, the ritual actions at the Minoan sites may well need re-

consideration.

104

Gerhard Mercator and Wolfgang Lazius - A comparative analysis

Petra Svatek Department of History, University of Vienna, Dr. Karl Lueger Ring 1, A-

1010 Vienna, Austria

petra.svatek@univie.ac.at

Abstract. In 1570 Gerhard Mercator suggested in a letter to Abraham

Ortelius: “I could wish that you add the most recent works of Lazius, who

described the area subject to the King of Hungary, which Johannes Maior

of Vienna sells, and certain other works” (Taylor 2004, p. 216). Mercator

recommended the work of Wolfgang Lazius, and years later finally the

maps of Lazius became an important source of his own maps. Wolfgang

Lazius (1514-1565) was the most important Austrian cartographer during

the 16th century. He was professor of medicine at the University of Vienna

and the personal doctor and historiographer of Emperor Ferdinand I. His

main research topics were the history of the Habsburgs and the ancient

time. In addition of this historical studies he produced 24 maps showing

Central and South-eastern Europe. His book “Typi chorographici

provinciarum Austriae” (1561, 11 maps), the first atlas of the Austrian

provinces, may be justly called the cartographic magnum opus of Lazius.

Furthermore Wolfgang Lazius was one of the pioneers in producing the-

matic maps.

At first the lecture will introduce the following maps of Lazius, which be-

came an important source for Mercator: “Regni Hungariae descriptio”

(map of Hungary and today’s western part of Romania, 1552/56), some

maps of the “Typi” (e. g. “Carinthiae ducatus cum palatinatū Goricia“,

“Regni Francorum orientalis sive Austriae ad Danubium“, “Rhetiae

alpestris in qua Tirolis com: descriptio”, 1561) and “Austriae

Chorographia” (map of Lower and Upper Austria, 1563).

Second the lecture will focus on the comparison of the Mercator-maps

based on Lazius and the original Lazius-maps. Which differences can we

105

find in the depiction of rivers, lakes, mountains and villages? The hypothe-

sis is that Mercator did not copy everything of the Lazius-maps. Instead

Mercator generalized their content. So we can find less legends, mountains

and names of places, but also less mistakes. In comparison with his profes-

sional colleagues Lazius made a lot of mistakes regarding the fundamental

principles of mathematics and astronomy. There are many distortions in

his maps. Most of the distortions we can find in the “Typi“-maps because

of their oval shape. Especially near the borders Lazius integrated a lot of

rivers and towns, which are situated in reality outside the map. The etch-

ings of Mercator’s maps are also better than of the maps of Lazius. Be-

cause of the shortage of skilled engravers, Lazius had to etch his maps

himself.

106

The ‘Digital Thematic Deconstruction’ of 16th-century urban maps

Bram Vannieuwenhuyze Department of Medieval History, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Blijde

Inkomststraat 21 bus 3307, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

Bram.Vannieuwenhuyze@arts.kuleuven.be

Abstract. The analysis of medieval urban space, medieval town develop-

ment and even urban origins is not possible without studying the oldest ur-

ban maps. Although historians and archaeologists usually agree with this

statement, they rather seldom proceed to an in depth analysis of carto-

graphic documents. Indeed, in many historical studies old maps are mostly

used as ‘nice pictures’ which illustrate or even embellish the texts. This is

not only due to the fact historians mainly focus on the text itself (both as

records and as means of communication), but also because they are lacking

(or don’t have access to) appropriate analytic tools and techniques to study

old maps properly.

For my PhD on the town development and spatial morphology of the me-

dieval city of Brussels, I developed a new method to analyse 16th-century

urban maps, which I called the ‘Digital Thematic Deconstruction’. It starts

from the assumption that historic maps are very complex and multi-layered

compilations of cartographic elements, which have to be analysed sepa-

rately from other kinds of records (texts, iconography, material artefacts,

etc.). Briefly worded, the ‘Digital Thematic Deconstruction’ implies a sys-

tematic dismantling of a rasterized file (a qualitative scan of the historic

map), followed by a thematic transformation into a multi-layered psd-file

The method not only allows to isolate every single cartographic detail, but

also to gain insight in the complex composition and accuracy of the map as

a whole. Mutatis mutandis, it allows to study topographic features and pat-

terns of the mapped town and its surroundings more properly. Of course, at

a final stage the results of the ‘Digital Thematic Deconstruction’ must be

compared to other data, such as other maps, texts and images.

107

In this paper, I first want to explain the basic assumptions and methodolog-

ical principles of the ‘Digital Thematic Deconstruction’ more profoundly.

Afterwards, I will show some concrete applications, realized on a series of

16th-century urban maps of the Southern Low Countries: the topographic

maps of Jacob of Deventer (Brussels, Halle, Vilvoorde, Kortrijk,

Oudenaarde, Dendermonde, Gistel) and bird eye views of 16th-century cit-

ies, made by various cartographers (Bruges, Ypres, Brussels). Of course, I

will especially pay attention to new findings thanks to the ‘Digital Themat-

ic Deconstruction’ and indicate some possibilities for further research. In

fact, the method seems very useful to study, for instance, segregation pat-

terns, building density, building history and spatial perception.

108

Reframing Mercator’s Orbis Imago, the double cordiform world map of 1538

Ruth Watson Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zea-

land

r.watson@auckland.ac.nz

Abstract. Existing scholarship around Mercator’s double cordiform

(heart-shaped) world map of 1538 could be described as circumspect. This

is due to a combination of factors: relatively little contemporary infor-

mation about it, and that the map – with its overt dedication to an unortho-

dox thinker – sits uneasily with the notion of Mercator as a key progenitor

of Modern cartography. Older scholarly accounts of Mercator’s work are

clear in their description of the map’s mathematical provenance, as well as

lauding the map as a first (to use the term America on the North American

continent), but some more recent accounts have described the projection as

‘peculiar’ and ‘not a success’, or ‘a mapmaker’s map’ and these kinds of

responses to the cordiform maps as a group is widespread.1 Overall, atti-

tudes about the map projection used, its dedication, as well as limited in-

1 “Peculiar” and “not a success” come from the popular biography by Andrew

Taylor’s The World of Mercator: the Mapmaker who Revolutionised Geography,

(London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2004) p.89-90, and “a mapmakers’ map” are

from Nicholas Crane’s Mercator: the Man who Mapped the Planet (London:

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2002), p. 96, also describing Oronce Fine’s 1531 map

from which the projection is derived as making viewers scratch their heads (p.96).

Even some eminent nineteenth-century commentators found the projection prob-

lematic; one example is Steinhauser, in an article on the projection’s inventor, Jo-

hannes Stabius, calling it “bizarre”. Anton Steinhauser, "Stabius Redivivus, Eine

Reliquie Aus Dem 16. Jahrhundert," Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Geographie

T.5 (1885), p.289.

109

terpretations of the use of the heart-shape, have impeded study of Orbis

Imago.

My recent study focussing on misapplications of nineteenth century nam-

ing and classification issues concerning the wider group of cordiform maps

has, however, clarified the early history of these extraordinary maps, pav-

ing the way for new interpretations of the use of the heart-shape in six-

teenth century cartography.2 This reshaping of the maps’ development can

now be used to reconsider specific examples and, based on these changed

parameters, I wish to make some new propositions about Mercator’s Orbis

Imago. This altered framework casts new frameworks for Orbis Imago’s

dedication to Johannes Drosius, its decoration (or relative lack thereof),

and the prominence of the large southern continent, and why it may have

been useful to omit the map from the Vita Mercatoris.

The paper briefly outlines the early history of the cordiform maps once

longstanding misapprehensions have been removed and adds this clarified

overview to an account of the heart in the first half of the sixteenth century

– before Vesalius, and significantly before the Jesuit uptake of the heart

symbol. I will employ newer forms of image theory – including from film

studies – to reconsider the function of images in the sixteenth century, re-

conceiving Orbis Imago as a cosmographic object with its new geography

serving older, pre-Modern purposes. The cumulative impact of these new

directions for the study of Orbis Imago will, in turn, impact upon the over-

all appreciation of Mercator’s relationship to religion, humanism and cos-

mography. With centuries of ‘scientism’ applied retrospectively to the car-

tographers of the sixteenth century, this paper aims to bring the early

aspirations of Gerhard Mercator into a more nuanced, and ultimately more

balanced, perspective.

2 Watson, Ruth “Cordiform Maps since the Sixteenth Century: the Legacy of Nine-

teenth-Century Classificatory Systems”, Imago Mundi (2008), 60:2, 182-194.

110

Modern edition of texts and maps of the Cadastral Land Survey of Swedish Pomerania 1692-1709 on the internet with help of WebGIS and Content Management Systems

Reinhard Zölitz Department of Cartography and GIS, Institute of Geography and Geology,

Greifswald University, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany

zoelitz@uni-greifswald.de

Abstract. The Land Survey of Swedish Pomerania 1692-1709 AD is con-

sidered the first cadastre in Germany, covering 8700 km2 with approx.

1,600 hand-drawn coloured maps and 65,000 text pages. It offers valuable

information on rural economy and landscape 300 years ago. To publish the

maps and texts on the internet, different efforts have been made, mainly

with projects funded by EU and DFG. Recently, in the framework of a

multidisciplinary research project of historians and geographers, funded by

DFG, a digital scientific edition of a considerable part of the material is

developed. Recent IT-standards are used to provide the material with full

information on the internet for the public. Constituent parts of the edition

are: digital high quality facsimiles of the maps; geo-referenced maps; vec-

torised maps with data base entries about land use etc. extracted from the

scanned maps and translated texts; digital transcription of the texts written

in Swedish language from 1700 AD; digital translation of the texts into

modern German language with scientific annotations. Innovative is, above

all, the linkage of texts and maps in a WebGIS. The paper presentation

provides information about the various tasks and results in our project,

primarily in the fields of georeferencing and vectorisation of the maps, set

up of a WebGIS linking maps with texts, and perspectives of further scien-

tific work with and on the maps upgraded by these means. The website is:

http://www.svea-pommern.de/

Abstracts of full papers appearing in The Cartographic Journal

113

Between the Cross and Crescent: Countries Bordering the Ottoman Empire in the Eyes of Dutch

Mirela Altic Institute of Social Sciences, Marulicev trg 19, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia

mirela.altic@zg.htnet.hr

Abstract. With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the early 16th

century, the countries of Southeastern Europe became the great European

battlefield. The countries bordering the Ottoman Empire were reorganizing

their territories into the Military Frontier, thus becoming a shield for the

rest of Europe.

Due to the military strategic importance Southeastern Europe gained with

the invasion of the Turks, the countries that otherwise were not attracting

greater attention of the European cartographic public suddenly found

themselves the focus of interest of West European cartography. From the

mid-16th century, the maps of countries such as Croatia, Slavonia or Dal-

matia, which had previously been represented only in the cartographies of

directly concerned countries (the Republic of Venice, the Habsburg Mon-

archy, Hungary), became an indispensable part of the majority of Dutch at-

lases.

Maps of the countries which were at war with the Turks were developed in

a very specific way. Because of the continuing warfare, there were no pre-

conditions for extensive field surveys, and a handful of surveys conducted

for the purposes of war operations were mostly kept as military secrets.

How did Dutch cartographers, who built their reputation on field survey

based maps, cope with depictions of countries for which they had no origi-

nal recent data? What templates did Dutch cartographers and publishers

use to create maps of the area during the 16th and 17th centuries, and how

successful were they (the problems of new borders and the extent of the

Turkish conquest, military fortresses, locations of decisive battles, network

of new settlements, etc.)?

114

The paper presents the results of original research based on the compara-

tive analysis of maps from the atlases of Abraham Ortelius, Gerhard and

Cornelius de Jode, Gerhard Mercator, Jodocus and Henricus Hondius, and

Jan Janssonius. We discover the templates Dutch cartographers and pub-

lishers used for their cartographic depictions of the above countries and

descriptions appearing on the back of these maps. In this matter we give

special attention to the role played by Gerhard Mercator and his succes-

sors. In addition, we evaluate the significance of Dutch cartography in

spreading the knowledge about geography and history of Southeastern Eu-

rope, and, generally, its impact on the perception of the countries border-

ing the Ottoman Empire.

115

A ‘Devious Course’: Projecting Toleration on Mercator’s ‘Map of the World’, 1569

Jerry Brotton School of English & Drama, Queen Mary, University of London, London

E1 4NS, United Kingdom

j.r.brotton@qmul.ac.uk

Abstract. This paper aims to generate new ways of understanding the gen-

esis of Gerard Mercator’s famous projection incorporated within his world

map, published in Duisburg in 1569 and entitled Nova et aucta orbis terrae

descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accommodate, or ‘A new and

enlarged description of the earth with corrections for use in navigation’.

Every student of geography is taught that this map represents a defining

moment in the history of projecting the earth’s spherical dimensions onto a

plane surface. Mercator’s map offered the first consistent method of pro-

jecting loxodromes as straight lines which, at least in theory, enabled navi-

gators to accurately plot a straight line across the globe that took into ac-

count the curvature of the earth’s surface. The study of Mercator’s

projection has struggled to understand what enabled its author to create

such an innovative mathematical resolution to this cartographic problem,

but in what follows I want to suggest that we might look at the theological

and philosophical contexts of Mercator’s career to provide a solution.

116

Geographical names on Mercator's maps of Croatia

Josip Faričić, Damir Magaš and Lena Mirošević Department of Geography, University of Zadar, F. Tudjmana 24 i, 23 000

Zadar, Croatia

jfaricic@unizd.hr, dmagas@unizd.hr, lmirosev@unizd.hr

Abstract. Mercator depicted Croatia on several general maps. In accor-

dance with the level of geographical knowledge, map scales and technical

possibilities of the time, Mercator provided a relatively detailed depiction

of basic geographical features on these maps. His interest in mapping

Croatia was probably motivated by the fact that the Venetian Republic, the

Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire had fought over this area in

the sixteenth century, contributing to the fragmentation of the medieval

Croatian State, while at the same time facilitating economic, religious, lin-

guistic, artistic and scientific communication between Central, South East

and Mediterranean Europe.

Mercator paid special attention to toponyms that enabled geographical ob-

jects to be identified and the decoding of cartographic contents. Research

into Mercator's maps has shown that geographical names, among other

things, clearly indicate the sources of spatial data that he used. Addition-

ally, geographical names on Mercator's maps are significant indicators of

the linguistic and cultural contacts that were particularly prominent in bor-

der areas, for example along the eastern Adriatic coast, or the courses of

the Danube, Sava and Drava.

117

Digital Representation of Historical Globes: Methods to Make 3D and Semi-3D Models of 16th Century Mercator Globes

Cornelis Stal, Alain De Wulf, Karen De Coene, Philippe De Maeyer, Ti-mothy Nuttens, Thérèse Ongena Department of Geography, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281, S8 (WE 12),

9000 Gent, Belgium

Cornelis.stal@ugent.be

Abstract. In this paper, the construction of digital representations of a ter-

restrial and celestial globe is discussed. Virtual digital (3D) models play an

important role in the recent research and publication on cultural heritage.

The globes, discussed in this paper, were made by Gerardus Mercator

(1512 – 1594) in respectively the years 1541 and 1551. Four techniques for

the digital representation are discussed and analysed, all using high resolu-

tion photographs of the globes. These photographs are taken under studio

conditions in order to get equal lighting of the globes and avoid unwanted

light spots. These lighting conditions are important, since the globes have a

highly reflective varnish covering. Processing these photographs using

Structure from Motion, georeferencing of separate scenes and the combi-

nation of the photographs with terrestrial laser scanning data result in true

3D representations of the globes. Besides, 3D-models of virtual globes

were generated using Dynamic Imaging, which is an extensively used

technique for visualizations over the internet. The four techniques and the

consequent results are compared on geometric and radiometric quality,

usefulness for distribution and visualization during an exhibition in honour

of the 500th birthday of Gerardus Mercator.