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Description

One of the Earliest Maps of the Southern Part of South America

Rare second edition of the Hulsius map of the southern part of South America, which appeared in his Brevis & admiranda descriptio regni Guianae, auri abundantissimi, in America, Hulsius' edition of Sir Walter Raleigh's travels in America.

The map extends from Tierra del Fuego from the the Rio de La Plata and contiguous Chilean Coastline, and is richly embellished with natives, fauna and flora within the map. Also includes allegorical and mythological figures, sea monsters and sailing ships along the coast line.

The map was originally published by Hulsius to illustrate Schmidel's Vera Historia, one of the volumes of his collection of voyages. This is one of the most accurate maps of South America of the 16th century.

According to Kohl,

the map is based upon a manuscript map in the Dépot de la Marine at Paris. Para, near the mouth of the Amazon, founded soon after 1620, is not indicated, and the course of the Amazon is not improved upon the type fashioned after the reports of Orellana in 1542. Near Lake Titicaca is a legend about the explorations of Nuno de Chaves, in 1557-1560. The names and inscriptions are nearly all Spanish, with an admixture of Portuguese in Brazil. The designations of the oceans and a few other names are French. These features indicate a French draughtsman, working on Spanish and Portuguese models.

Includes scenes of warfare, Amazons, blemmyae, ships and sea monsters.

There are two editions of the map, which can be distinguished by the date at the bottom right corner.

Reference
The Kohl Collection of Maps (Now in the Library of Congress) Relating To America: #367.