Portolan Chart of the Pacific Ocean

When Christopher Columbus landed on the American continent, he assumed that he had found India and thus the Asian continent
In 1500, based on the flora and fauna, Amerigo Vespucci hypothesized that it was a continent of its own, unknown in Europe until then
Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513 with several hundred men and with the help of locals and was able to prove this assumption

Portolan Chart of the Pacific Ocean

Cod. Guelf. 103, Aug. 2 Herzog August Bibliothek (Wolfenbüttel, Germany)

Description

Portolan Chart of the Pacific Ocean

On September 25, 1513, Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475–1519) was the first European to set eyes on the Pacific Ocean from the Americas. With the previous, brutal and devastating crossing of the Central American isthmus, which today is called Panama, he proved Amerigo Vespucci's (1454–1512) assumption that the islands and lands in the west, still largely unknown to Europeans, were not – as initially assumed – parts of Asia, but rather a separate continent between Europe and Asia, between the Atlantic and the Pacific: America. The Portolan Chart of the Pacific Ocean in the Herzog August Library is an outstanding testimony to this finding. It represents part of the South American Atlantic coastline, the most important islands in the Gulf of Mexico and, above all, large parts of the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines of Central America, especially Panama. An inscription also makes explicit reference to Balboa's expedition, which he undertook on his own initiative.

Codicology

Alternative Titles: Portolankarte des Pazifischen Ozeans
Type: Manuscript on parchment
Size / Format: 1 map / 72.0 × 95.0 cm
Origin: Spain
Date: 16th century
Epochs: Late Middle Ages Onwards
Style: Renaissance
Genre: Geography / Cartography / Navigation
Language: Latin
Illustrations: Polychrome, cartographic illuminations
Content: Map of Central America and parts of South America

Available facsimile editions:

Facsimile Editions

#1 Portulano del océano Pacífico

Circulo Cientifico – Madrid

Publisher: Circulo Cientifico – Madrid

Complete color reproduction of the original “Portolan Chart of the Pacific Ocean” at its original size. The facsimile aims to reproduce the original’s appearance, feel and physical characteristics as faithfully as possible. The pages are trimmed to the original format. The binding may differ from the original’s present-day binding.

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Portolan Chart of the Pacific Ocean