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

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''A New and Most Exact Description of America or The Fourth Part of the World'') is an ornate geographical map of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

, made in 1562 by Spanish cartographer Diego Gutiérrez and Flemish artist Hieronymus Cock. The map encompasses the eastern coast of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, the entire Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

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

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

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 lett ...

grid, the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

, the

Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, also known as the Northern Tropic, is the Earth's northernmost circle of latitude where the Sun can be seen directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ...

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 geographic coordinate system, geographic 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 t ...

grid. The map also lacks the Tordesillas meridian, 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, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are ...

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 (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

s, cannibals, Patagonian giants, and an erupting

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure 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 oft ...

in central Mexico. One of the depicted Patagonian giants is handing a bow to a

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

. The top left corner features the goddess

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

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 very often winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University ...

. 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 (; ; 2 April 1546 – 3 October 1568), was Queen of Spain as the third wife of Philip II of Spain. She was the eldest daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Early life Elisabeth was ...

, 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 a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

(London).British Library
/ref> The actual total number of copies printed 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 is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. 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