“GVIANA siue AMAZONVM REGIO” Amsterdam: Willem J. Blaeu, c. 1646. Verso text: French. Engraved map with original hand coloring. (Image: 14 5/8 x 19 ½’’)
This highly decorative map depicts the region from the Isla Margarita in the north-west to the coast of northern Brazil near Sao Luis. Topographical features are shown, and most towns and villages, mountains and water routes are located.
The map is dominated by a large inland sea, “the Parime Lacus, on whose northwestern shore lies the fabled city Manoa, o el Dorado, golden city of the Inca that travelers’ tales located in the jungles of Guiana”.
The map is further enhanced by the highly decorative cartouches, compass rose, ships at sea (including two engaged in battle) and a sea monster.
Because of South America’s importance in financing the Spanish war effort in Europe, Sir Walter Raleigh ventured to Guiana & published “a highly inventive work of propaganda which turned jungles & mountain wildernesses into an arcadia”. Raleigh sought to establish an English colony, find El Dorado & the wealth of the mines - all to no avail. He was executed in 1618 “partly as a result of his failure in Guiana & partly as a result of Spanish pressure on James I, for his having killed Spaniards on his last expedition to Guiana in 1617” (Royal Geo. Soc., Blaeu’s The Grand Atlas, p.180-181).
Shipped unmatted
