Detail View: Old Maps Collection: South Indian Ocean with insulindia on the left and Madagascar on the right

4687820501035

South Indian Ocean with insulindia on the left and Madagascar on the right

[Océan Indien Sud avec l'insulinde à gauche et Madagascar à droite]

Atlas Miller

Lopo Homem-Reineis Atlas

Homem, Lopo, fl. 1517-1565, cartographer

Reinel, Pedro, ca. 1464-ca. 1542, cartographer

Reinel, Jorge, ca. 1502-ca. 1572, cartographer

António de Holanda, 1480?-1556, illustrator

Santarém, Manuel Francisco de Barros e Sousa de Mesquita de Macedo Leitão e Carvalhosa, 1791-1856, 2nd viscount of, former owner

Miller, Emmanuel, 1812-1886, former owner

Sea Charts

Manuscripts

Latin

Portuguese

1519

JPEG 2000, 14658 × 10608, 24MB

3

Scale not given.

48 x 58 cm, on sheet 54 x 64 cm

This map is from an Atlas known as Atlas Miller or Lopo Homem-Reineis Atlas. It was a joint work of cartographers Lopo Homem, Pedro Reinel and Jorge Reinel, and illustrated by Flemish miniaturist António de Holanda. It is considered one of the most beautiful Renaissance cartographic documents from Portugal. According to some authors the Atlas formed by 6 sheets is missing a 7th sheet which problaby included a map of Africa. The five sheets with the maps were sold by Jacques Charavey -a Paris bookseller- to Portuguese viscount of Santarém that later sold them to Emmanuel Clement Miller, hence the name Miller Atlas. In 1897 Millers widow sold it to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The mapamundi sheet was later found in an auction in London in 1930 with the no. 91 in a catalogue of Sotheby & Co. The buyer -Marcel Destombes- with the help of experts, concluded in 1939 that belonged to the Miller Atlas and in 1976 donated it to Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The title page bears a later inscription -probably after 1559- with the arms of Catherine de Medici, queen of France. It is thought to have been an offering from King Manuel I of Portugal to Francis I of France. However many authors agree that it had a political ground for it secretly denies the idea that the actual circumnavigation of the globe was possible and it was made to hinder Magellan’s voyage under the Spanish King. This sheet is the only known representation of Africa in the Atlas and it is believed that the missing sheet would have a complete map of the continent and one with Southern Africa. On the left side map which includes East Africa it is depicted Pegu -named 'Pegul Regis'-, Malacca, conquered by the Portuguese in 1511, even though it is misplaced but with the correct representation of the Portuguese fortress 'A Famosa'. It is also shown Sumatra -here named 'Taprobana Insula'- with a cartouche with a Latin Legend stating that beyond it there are a total of 1378 islands. The islands with the names 'Java Maior', 'Java Minor' and 'Candin' are probably a string of islands called Sunda. On the part that is East Africa there is the city 'Mogadoxo' -Mogadishu, Somalia- and 'Co[lo]a Palus' that most probably is lake Dembea or lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile and the largest lake in Ethiopia. Madagascar is presented with a legend that states its name as 'Insule divi Laurentii' -because it was first sighted in August 10th, St. Lawrences day- and it is depicted in detail for the first time. The cartouche with information also express that St. Lawrence is the largest island in the sea and its inhabitants are muslim; that the land is fruitful in silver, sandalwood, cloves and aromatic plants.

Left side: Indian Ocean and western Southeast Asian islands. -- Right side: Madagascar.

Original is a manuscript vellum Atlas with 6 sheets with both recto and verso, 42 x 59 cm.

Title from provenance library.

Both maps are very ornamented with Portuguese flags and heraldic devices. On the map of South East Asia there are three vessels: two Portuguese and one of a Muslim ship. As for the coast of Africa we can see a total of 5 vessels, two Portuguese Caravels and three Moorish ships. Just above Malacca there is a representation of a fortified named 'Maba[n]qua civitas' of unknown origin although authors seem to agree that it was an error in interpretation and it is in fact another name to the city of Malacca. In addition to the palm trees and parrots just above Malacca are the 'Maeandrus Mons' that in Ptolemaic geography is the backbone of the peninsula and seems to be the mountains of Burma and western of Siam. Major cities names and islands written in banderoles.

There are 4 full and 1 half 32-point compass roses with an arrow indicating north, all on Madagascar sheet.

The compass roses are colored in red, blue and gold. As for the rhumb lines the principal winds are in black, the half winds in green and the quarter winds in red.

On the Indian Ocean map the Equator line -named 'Circulus Equinocialis'- is in red. On the Madagascar map both the Equator and Tropic of Capricorn are in red.

The coast line is outlined in green with islands in red, blue, green and gold.

Relief is shown pictorially.

Scale line only on the Madagascar map is vertical on the right side outlined in cartouche.

Map is outlined in simple fillet with a wide gold border.

Cortesão, A. Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica, vol. 1. p. 55-61

La Mappemonde Lopo Homem et L'atlas Miller, The Geographical Journal, vol. 94, no. 6, p. 485-492

Miró, M. Atlas Miller, p. 286-[296], 311-322

龚缨晏. 《米勒之地图集》之谜, 地图, 02期

Marques, A.P. Os Descobrimentos e o 'Atlas Miller

Denucé, J. Les origines de la cartographie portugaise et les cartes des Reinel

Pastoureau, M. Sur la route des deux Indes http://expositions.bnf.fr/marine/arret/03-2-2.htm

Indian Ocean

Africa

Sheet 3 verso

[Atlas nautique du Monde, dit Atlas Miller]

Homem, Lopo, fl. 1517-1565, cartographer

Reinel, Pedro, ca. 1464-ca. 1542, cartographer

Reinel, Jorge, ca. 1502-ca. 1572, cartographer

António de Holanda, 1480?-1556, illustrator

Santarém, Manuel Francisco de Barros e Sousa de Mesquita de Macedo Leitão e Carvalhosa, 1791-1856, 2nd viscount of, former owner

Miller, Emmanuel, 1812-1886, former owner

1519

[Lisbon?]

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb40887480s

GE DD-683 (3 RES)

https://must.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/853MUST_INST/171sgkf/alma991002923848505076