Tour and travel guide for Salvador, Bahia and Northeast Brazil

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Map of Brazil from 1554

in Historical Maps
1554 Map of Brazil - This fascinating pictorial map is one of the first regional maps of Brazil available. Illustrated with north on the right, the map is filled with vignettes that represent native life rather than focusing on geographic information. Native Indians are shown with bows and arrows, axes, llamas and hammocks, for which Brazilians are well known. The surrounding ocean is teeming with French and Portuguese ships and sea monsters. Along the coast, Europeans are depicted interacting with natives. The limited geographic information presented is quite inaccurate. The Amazon River (here called Maranon F.) and the Paraná River originate from lakes on the side of an erupting volcano. Mountains and spurious rivers fill the western portion of Brazil, labeled as Terra non Descobrirta (undiscovered land). This woodcut map is from the first block, published in 1554 and later destroyed by a fire in Thomaso Guinti's printing house in 1557. A second block was cut in 1565, with the notable difference that Descoperta is written in the upper central part instead of Discoperta. The second block was used again in 1606, distinguishable from the earlier printing by the appearance of woodworm damage on the printing block. Many of the blocks in the 1554 edition of Ramusio's Delle Navigationi Et Viaggi were produced by the great Venetian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi. "Brazil", Ramusio, Giovanni Battista
1554 Map of Brazil – This fascinating pictorial map is one of the first regional maps of Brazil available. Illustrated with north on the right, the map is filled with vignettes that represent native life rather than focusing on geographic information. Native Indians are shown with bows and arrows, axes, llamas and hammocks, for which Brazilians are well known. The surrounding ocean is teeming with French and Portuguese ships and sea monsters. Along the coast, Europeans are depicted interacting with natives. The limited geographic information presented is quite inaccurate. The Amazon River (here called Maranon F.) and the Paraná River originate from lakes on the side of an erupting volcano. Mountains and spurious rivers fill the western portion of Brazil, labeled as Terra non Descobrirta (undiscovered land). This woodcut map is from the first block, published in 1554 and later destroyed by a fire in Thomaso Guinti's printing house in 1557. A second block was cut in 1565, with the notable difference that Descoperta is written in the upper central part instead of Discoperta. The second block was used again in 1606, distinguishable from the earlier printing by the appearance of woodworm damage on the printing block. Many of the blocks in the 1554 edition of Ramusio's Delle Navigationi Et Viaggi were produced by the great Venetian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi. “Brazil”, Ramusio, Giovanni Battista

Map of Brazil from 1554

This fascinating pictorial map is one of the first regional maps of Brazil available. Illustrated with north on the right, the map is filled with vignettes that represent native life rather than focusing on geographic information.

Native Indians are shown with bows and arrows, axes, llamas and hammocks, for which Brazilians are well known.

The surrounding ocean is teeming with French and Portuguese ships and sea monsters. Along the coast, Europeans are depicted interacting with natives. The limited geographic information presented is quite inaccurate.

The Amazon River (here called Maranon F.) and the Paraná River originate from lakes on the side of an erupting volcano.

Mountains and spurious rivers fill the western portion of Brazil, labeled as Terra non Descobrirta (undiscovered land). This woodcut map is from the first block, published in 1554 and later destroyed by a fire in Thomaso Guinti's printing house in 1557.

A second block was cut in 1565, with the notable difference having Desperta written at the top center instead of Discoperta.

The second block was used again in 1606, distinguishable from the earlier printing by the appearance of woodworm damage on the printing block.

Many of the blocks in the 1554 edition of Ramusio's Delle Navigationi Et Viaggi were produced by the great Venetian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi. “Brazil”, Ramusio, Giovanni Battista

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