1574 Tierra Nueva
By: Girolamo Ruscelli
Date: 1574 (published) Venice
Dimensions: 7.4 x 10.25 (18.8 x 26.04 cm)
This important Ruscelli map of the east coast of North America is one of the earliest of the region, and stretches from the south in ‘La Florida’ and ‘La Bremuda’ all the way to ‘Tierra del Laborador’ in modern day Canada. The map depicts many of the discoveries and observations made by both Giovanni de Verrazzano in his explorations around Cape Fear and farther north, and those of Jacques Cartier’s first voyage to Canada.
The map owes much to Gastaldi’s map of 1548, engraved by Sanuto for Ruscelli’s 1561 edition of La Geographia de Claudio Tolomeo. The Gastaldi map had been the first to report details of Verrazzano’s voyage of 1524, a voyage which helped to shape modern understanding of the configuration of North America with its unbroken coastline stretching from Florida to Nova Scotia. The map also reconciled differences between Cartier’s and Verrazzona’s findings, thus making it the first cartographic effort to map the entire east coast of the continent. The place name Tierra De Nurumberg is an example of early nomenclature referring to New England.
Girolamo Ruscelli (1500s-1566) was an Italian polymath, humanist, editor, and cartographer active in Venice during the early 16th century. Ruscelli is best known for his important revision of Ptolemy's Geographia, published posthumously in 1574.
Condition: This map is in A condition with a strong impression on clean paper and full margins on all sides.
Inventory #11715
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