43 results
Region Between Amazon River and São Paulo
This pen-and-ink watercolor map shows the course of the Amazon River, including its minor tributaries and the towns located along its banks. Although much of the area along the Amazon was controlled by indigenous people through the early colonial period, settlers established towns along the riverbanks to support trade and exploration into Brazil’s interior. The largest of these towns was Belem, which appears on the map.
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Map in Which the Rivers on Argentina, Parana and Paraguay are Described Most Exactly for the First Time, When a Beginning was Made by the New Colony as Far as the Mouth of the Jauru River
This atlas of colonial South America is by Miguel Antonio Ciera. A noted mathematician and professor of astronomy at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, Ciera was part of an expedition sent to demarcate the border between Spanish and Portuguese holdings in South America following signature of the 1750 Treaty of Madrid and the 1756 Guarani War. The atlas focuses on the southern part of the continent, in the watershed of the Paraná River, where the borders were most disputed. The territory in the atlas includes present-day Argentina and Paraguay ...
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The Bay of All Saints
This map by Joan Blaeu (1596-1673), one of the most important Dutch cartographers, shows the Bay of All Saints off the coast of Brazil. The bay was named by Amerigo Vespucci, who is said to have entered it on All Saints’ Day, November 1, in the year 1501. Located on the bay is the city of Salvador.
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Geographic Map of Brazil
This map of Brazil was published by Giovanni Battista Albrizzi (1698-1777), a prominent Venetian publisher of books and maps. The notes on the map, in Italian, include various speculative remarks about the people and the geography of the interior of Brazil, then still largely unknown to Europeans. Albrizzi, who inherited his business from his father, was part of a family active in publishing and bookselling in Venice for 150 years. He played an important role in the intellectual life of the city and edited a weekly bulletin, Novelle della Repubblica ...
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Brazil, which Coast is a Portuguese Possession, Divided into Fourteen Captaincies, Showing the Middle of the Country Inhabited by Many Unknown Peoples
This coastal map of Portuguese Brazil is by one of the greatest of the French cartographers, Nicolas Sanson (1600-67). Sanson gave geography lessons to both King Louis XIII and King Louis XIV. He also was named official geographer to the king, and his two younger sons succeeded him in this position. Until Sanson, the field of cartography was dominated by the Dutch, whose maps favored aesthetics over exactness. Sanson’s maps, notable for accuracy as well as elegance, marked a shift in the dominance of the field of cartography from ...
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Course of the São [Francisco] River and the Navigation Along It from São Paulo to the Pitangui Mines
This early-18th century manuscript map shows the São Francisco River in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state. In this period, the Portuguese sent numerous expeditions up the São Francisco and its tributaries in search of gold, silver, and diamonds.
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Map Showing the Presumed Headwaters of the Das Velhas River and Part of the Captaincy of Minas Gerais
This late-18th century hand-drawn map shows the Das Velhas River, one of the tributaries of the São Francisco River in southern Brazil that flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Gold was discovered on its banks in 1698-99.
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Hand-Drawn Maps and Plans of Recife in Pernambuco, All Saints’ Bay, and the Coast from Bahia to Gãmam…
This six-leaved, hand-drawn atlas shows the coastal area of Brazil’s Pernambuco and Bahia states as they appeared in the early 1630s. The maps include details of the city of Recife and All Saints’ Bay, as well as details of the coastline. The area was first settled by the Portuguese in 1534, and Pernambuco was one of Portugal’s only profitable Brazilian colonies during the early colonial period. The area benefitted from successful cotton and sugar cultivation. Pernambuco came under Dutch rule in 1630, around the time these maps were ...
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Map of the City of Rio de Janeiro: Situated at Latitude 22 Degrees 54' and Longitude 334 Degrees 53' from the Meridian of the Island of Ferro
This pen-and-ink watercolor map shows the city of Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding coastline around 1770, shortly after it became the colonial capital city of Portuguese Brazil. The map is the work of Manoel Vieira Leão (1727-1803), an assistant to the governor of the city.
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Map of the Region of the Itenes or Guaporé River and Its Tributaries
This pen-and-ink watercolor map shows the Itenez-Guaporé River Basin. The map shows the location of the fortress of Nossa Senhora da Conceição dos Portugueses and the deployment of Spanish troops under command of Alonso Berdugo and Aymerich Tete. This river, now known in Brazil as the Guaporé, forms the border between the Brazilian provinces of Rondônia and Mato Grosso, before flowing north into Bolivia, where it is known as the Itenez.
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Hydrographic Map of the Famous Rio de Janeiro Bay Where the Sao Sebastiao City is Situated
This map of the bay of Rio de Janeiro shows the city of São Sebastião, the bay entrance, the island, and the rivers entering the bay. During the colonial period, the city of São Sebastião was an agricultural center and its port was a major shipping point for gold from Minas Gerais. The map is the work of Luis dos Santos Vilhena (1744-1814), who lived in Salvador, where he worked as a teacher of Greek and Latin. Vilhena wrote extensively about life in Portuguese Brazil, often expressing the frustration of ...
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Map of the Fortress of Cobras Island
This map shows the fort on the Island of Cobras, located in the harbor off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The island was considered an important line of defense for the city of Rio de Janeiro and the approach to the colonial capital. The first fort was erected on the island in the 1620s, when Portugal’s Brazilian holdings were under threat from the Dutch as well as from the French and the English. Over the next century, the fort was rebuilt and expanded. Eventually, it included a house ...
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Brazil
This early map of Brazil is by Jacopo Gastaldi (circa 1500-circa 1565), a Piedmontese cartographer who worked in Venice and rose to the position of cosmographer of the Venetian Republic. Gastaldi produced maps and illustrations for parts of Delle Navigationi et Viaggi (Travels and voyages), a compilation of travel writings by the Venetian diplomat and geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1485-1557). Ramusio’s work contained more than 50 memoirs, including the writings of Marco Polo.
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Part of the Coast of Brazil
This pen-and-ink drawing on parchment shows the southeastern coast of Brazil, from Pernambuco in the north to Rio Grande do Sul in the south. The map focuses on the coastline and labels coastal towns as well as the provinces. The map is attributed to Antonio José Araújo.
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Map of the Branco or Parimé River and of the Caratirimani Uararicapará Majari, Tacutú and Mahú Rivers
This map shows the network of rivers and tributaries flowing through northern Brazil. The map focuses on the Rio Branco, one of the main tributaries to the Rio Negro, and several smaller tributaries, including the Caratirimani, Uararicapará, Majari, Tacutú, and Mahú rivers. The rivers flow out of the ridges and mountain ranges separating Brazil from Venezuela and Guyana. The map is by José Joaquin Freire (17?-1847), a Portuguese naval officer, cartographer, draftsman, and watercolorist who, in 1783-92, was a member of the Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira expedition sent to Pará ...
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General Map of the Diocese of Pará: Shows the Division of Parishes Where the Venerable Father Miguel de Bulhões III, Bishop from Pará, Founded and Built the Diocese
This map shows the territory of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belem do Pará. The diocese was founded in 1720, following its separation from the Diocese of São Luis do Maranhão, and was centered in the city of Belém, the capital of Pará state. The map shows the extent of the diocese under Bishop Miguel de Bulhões e Souza (1706-78), who served as a bishop in Singapore before coming to Brazil in 1749. Bulhões oversaw the construction and consecration of a new cathedral in Belém as well as the reopening ...
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Primitive Map of the Upper Paraguay River and Its Tributaries Cuiaba, Porrudos and Sao Lourenco
This hand-drawn map from around 1720 shows the Upper Paraguay River and its tributaries, the Cuiaba, Porrudos, and São Lourenco rivers. The basin of the Upper Paraguay River is located in the present-day Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, and is the largest floodplain area in the world. This map subsequently played a role in establishing that Portugal occupied these inland territories and therefore could claim legal ownership under the terms of the 1750 Treaty of Madrid. The map was drawn with ferrogálica, an ink that ...
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Village and Square of Santos
This drawing shows the village of Santos in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The village was established in 1546 and quickly became an export site for coffee. The drawing is done with Nanquim ink, a type of ink developed in China and used for colloidal drawings and watercolors. It involves suspending carbon particles in water and stabilizing it with some type of glue.
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Design of the City of São Paulo
This drawing shows the Brazilian city of São Paulo. Founded in 1554 by Jesuit missionaries as a base for their work with the Guaraní Indians, the city first grew as a result of the coffee trade and later due to industrialization. The drawing is done with Nanquim ink, a type of ink developed in China and used for colloidal drawings and watercolors. It involves suspending carbon particles in water and stabilizing it with some type of glue.
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Town of Santos
This drawing shows the village of Santos in southern Brazil. The drawing is done with Nanquim ink, a type of ink developed in China and used for colloidal drawings and watercolors. It involves suspending carbon particles in water and stabilizing it with some type of glue.
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Map of the District of Villa Rica
This map showing the district of Villa Rica in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state is the work of José Joaquim da Rocha (1737?-1807). Rocha was a Brazilian military engineer, painter, and cartographer who contributed works to many important churches and monasteries around Salvador and Minas Gerais. His map shows details of individual comarcas (judicial districts) and parochial districts, and an illustration of an Indian. Rocha was accused of participation in the Minas Conspiracy (Inconfidência Mineira) of 1789, a movement seeking independence from Portugal, and of involvement with its leader ...
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