Alonzo de Santa Cruz (or Alonso, Alfonso) (1505 – 1567) was a Spanish

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

, mapmaker, instrument maker, historian and teacher. He was born about 1505, and died in November 1567. His maps were inventoried in 1572. Alonzo de Santa Cruz was a renowned cartographer on the Consejo de Indias (Council of the Indies) and a

cosmographer The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

at the ''

Casa de Contratación The ''Casa de Contratación'' (, House of Trade) or ''Casa de la Contratación de las Indias'' ("House of Trade of the Indies") was established by the Crown of Castile, in 1503 in the port of Seville (and transferred to Cádiz in 1717) as a cro ...

'' (House of Trade). There, he worked on the

Padrón Real The Padrón Real (, ''Royal Register''), known after 2 August 1527 as the Padrón General (, ''General Register''), was the official and secret Spanish master map used as a template for the maps present on all Spanish ships during the 16th centu ...

, a Spanish map documenting the discoveries in the New World. Alonzo de Santa Cruz, described cosmography as a way of making a painting of the earth, "because (gra)phia is the same as painting and cosmos is world" In 1530, Alonzo de Santa Cruz produced the first map of magnetic variations from true north. He believed it would be of use in finding the correct longitude. Alonzo de Santa Cruz designed new nautical instruments, was interested in navigational methods, and wrote about

John Cabot John Cabot ( ; 1450 – 1499) was an Italians, Italian navigator and exploration, explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England, Henry VII, King of England is the earliest known Europe ...

's method for finding longitude which made use of the declination of the sun, observed with the quadrant. Alonzo also taught

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

and cosmography in the court of

Charles V Charles V may refer to: Kings and Emperors * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise Others * Charles V, Duke ...

. Alonzo then wrote a five-volume biography about Charles V which described some of the Spanish atrocities in the New World. This upset Charles' son, Phillip II, and so Phillip removed three chapters of the biography. He also produced the ''Islario general de todas las islas del mundo'' (sometimes called the '' Islario General''), a map and document describing the world's islands, at the request of King Philip II in 1542. He also continued

Hernando del Pulgar Hernando del Pulgar (1436 – c. 1492), also spelled as Fernando de Pulgar, was a Kingdom of Castile, Castilian royal secretary, historian, and writer. He first served in the administration of Enrique IV of Castile and later was appointed by Isabe ...

's work titled, ''History of the Catholic Monarchs''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Cruz, Alonzo de 1505 births 1572 deaths Spanish cartographers 16th-century cartographers 16th-century Spanish people

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