- Title - Mappe Monde
- Cartographer - Claude Buffier
- Date - 1744
- Size - 178mm x 137mm
- Condition - Very good to excellent. Handcoloured with original folds.
Charming 18th Century World Map
Attractive double hemisphere map by Buffier. The Eastern Hemisphere map shows only the western coast of Australia, it would be another 25 years before the eastern coast was charted by Capt. Cook. His survey being carried out in 1769.
A charming map, the land contours on this small map are drawn in what can only be called a speculative fashion, it's beauty lies in it's inaccuracies and the lack of universal knowledge that was still apparent in mapmaking in the early 18th century. The Western Hemisphere on this map is also notable as it presents California as an island.
Island Of California
The Island of California refers to a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that California was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island separated from the continent by the Gulf of California.
One of the most famous cartographic errors in history, it was propagated on many maps during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, despite contradictory evidence from various explorers. The legend was initially infused with the idea that California was a terrestrial paradise, like the Garden of Eden or Atlantis.
These errors persisted for over 100 years, even after Father Kino established its penisularity about 1705. Beginning with Delisle’s map of America in 1722, some cartographers began again to show a peninsular California, but many cartographers continued to depict it as an island. Finally in 1747, Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a royal edict declaring California as part of the mainland, and soon after that insular California finally disappeared from the map.
Surviving maps which depict California as an Island are highly collectable. This is a charming example of an early map with an insular California.
Collectable Small Map!
Item ID: 15396-0
Price:
€295.00 (€304.29 Inc. VAT)
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