Peruviae Auriferae Regionis Typus. Didaco Mendezio Auctore/ La Florida. Auctore Hieron. Chiaves/ Guastecan Reg.
Amsterdam: 1592. A very early original color copper engraved map of the Spanish empire in the New World, made up of 3 maps on one sheet, the largest showing central and South America (Peru); the second showing Florida and the southeast; and the third, Guastecan (Huasteca), a northeastern province of Mexico. The map of Florida is important as it is the first regional map of the southeastern section of North America, and shows the discoveries of Spanish explorers such as Cabeza de Vaca and Hernando de Soto, including a distorted representation of the Mississippi River (named 'Rio del Spirito Santo'). First published in Ortelius' "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum". Burden 57: "(La Florida) is one of the very few maps printed in the sixteenth century that was based upon original Spanish sources. They were very protective of their knowledge of the Americas, a considerable source of their wealth. The author of this map, Geronimo de Chaves, was the Cosmographer Royal to Philip II of Spain". The map of Florida is considered to be the first to show any interior detail of the present day United States, and was set the standard for mapping the region for the century to come. Latin text on verso with first letter hand colored & decorated with griffins; the number '9' at the lower right. The present map is from the 1592 Latin edition, according to Cartographica Neerlandica (Background for Ortelius Map No. 15):1592L9 (last line, left aligned: feruentum). Image size: 18 x 13". Paper size: 20 3/4 x 17 1/8". Printed accurately, but not square on the page, sits tilted slightly toward the left. References: Van den Broecke, M. 15; Burden, P.D. 57; Cumming, W.P. (SE) 5. Item #15684
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