''Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

: ''A New and Most Exact Description of America or The Fourth Part of the World'') is an ornate geographical map of the Americas, made in 1562 by Spanish cartographer Diego Gutiérrez and Flemish artist

Hieronymus Cock Hieronymus Cock, or Hieronymus Wellens de Cock (1518 – 3 October 1570) was a Flemish painter and etcher as well as a publisher and distributor of prints.

. The map encompasses the eastern coast of North America, the entire

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

and parts of the western coasts of Europe and Africa. ''Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio'' is the earliest

scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

wall map of the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

and the first to use the name "California". The map consists of six neatly-joined engraved sheets. Measuring 93×86 cm, it remained the largest map of America for a century. It has a

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

grid, the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can al ...

, the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted tow ...

and the

Tropic of Capricorn The Tropic of Capricorn (or the Southern Tropic) is the circle of latitude that contains the subsolar point at the December (or southern) solstice. It is thus the southernmost latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. It also reach ...

, but no

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north po ...

grid. The map also lacks the

Tordesillas meridian The Treaty of Tordesillas, ; pt, Tratado de Tordesilhas . signed in Tordesillas, Spain on 7 June 1494, and authenticated in Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Emp ...

, demarcating the Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the New World. Along with

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

s and other sea creatures, the map features objects that had been popularized in Europe after the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, such as

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittaco ...

s, cannibals,

Patagonian giants The Patagones or Patagonian giants were a race of giant humans rumoured to be living in Patagonia and described in early European accounts. They were said to have exceeded at least double normal human height, with some accounts giving heights of ...

, and an erupting

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

in central Mexico. One of the depicted Patagonian giants is handing a bow to a conquistador. The top left corner features the goddess Victoria behind the arms of Spain and France, which are carried by three

putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University o ...

. It is believed that the alliance between the two kingdoms, forged by the marriage of Philip II and

Elisabeth of Valois Elisabeth of France or Elisabeth of Valois ( es, Isabel de Valois; french: Élisabeth de France) (2 April 1545 – 3 October 1568) was Queen of Spain as the third spouse of Philip II of Spain. She was the eldest daughter of Henry II of France ...

, is the reason why two arms are positioned close to each other. The map uses the Classical Latin letter "V" instead of "U". There are two extant copies of the map, one in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The librar ...

(Washington, D.C.) and the other in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

(London).British Library
/ref> The actual total number of copies is not known. The Library of Congress's copy was formerly in the collection of the Duke of

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

until its sale at a 1932 auction in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. It was then acquired by an American book dealer who in turn sold it to Lessing J. Rosenwald. In 1949 Rosenwald gave the map to the Library of Congress.

Details

File:1562 Americae-Gutierrez 03 01hrs-mid Deus-Marinae-Travelling-with-Animals.jpg, Deity of the seas in a chariot File:Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio-Portuguese arms.jpg, Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Portugal File:Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio-mermaids.jpg, Mermaids in the Pacific Ocean

References

{{reflist Historic maps of the Americas 1562 works 16th-century maps and globes Etymology of California