Image: 1562 Americæ Gutiérrez

Description: The 1562 map of the Americas titled "Americae sive quartae orbis partis nova et exactissima descriptio" (Latin: "The Americas, or A New and Precise Description of the Fourth Part of the World") by Diego Gutiérrez and engraver Hieronymus Cock. It was the earliest scale wall map of the New World and the first to apply the name California. The Tropics of Cancer, Capricorn and the equator are used as reference latitudes. The Spanish and French coats of arms appear together, embraced by Victory, symbolizing the 1559 marriage between Phillip II of Spain and Elisabeth of Valois. In 1554, Diego Gutiérrez was appointed principal cosmographer to the king of Spain in the Casa de la Contratación. The crown commissioned the Casa to produce a large-scale map of the western hemisphere, often called the “fourth part of the world.” The purpose of the map was to assert Spain’s claims to new world territories against the rival claims of Portugal and France. Spain claimed all lands south of the Tropic of Cancer, which is shown prominently. The map was engraved by the famous Antwerp engraver Hieronymus Cock, who added numerous artistic flourishes, including the coats of arms of the three rival powers, a snake-like Amazon River that winds across the northern part of South America, mermaids and mythical monsters at sea, and an elephant, rhinoceros, and lion on the western coast of Africa. The name “California” is inscribed near Baja California, just above the Tropic of Cancer, the first time it appears on any printed map. Only two copies of the map are known to exist: this one from the collections of the Library of Congress, and another in the British Library. Western Hemisphere
Title: A Modern and Quite Precise Depiction of America (or the Fourth Part of the World)
Credit: LoC http://www.loc.gov/item/map49000970/ (from the Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress, no. 1303) WDL Gallery: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/32/
Author: Gutiérrez, Diego (Flourished 1554-1569)
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No