SOUTH AMERICA’S CARIBBEAN COAST WITH ARUBA
” Tercera Hoja que comprehende la parte de costa de Tierra Firme é Islas adyacentes, entre los meridianos de 58, 47′ y 63, 49′, al occidente de Cádiz)” [“Third Sheet that includes the part of the coast of Tierra Firme and adjacent islands, between the meridians of 58°47′ and 63°49′ west of Cádiz.”] Copper engraving made in 1817 by the Spaanse Hydrographic Office in Madrid according to the measurements of Joaquín Francisco Fidalgo, here in an edition of 1865. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 61,5 x 96 cm.
Joaquín Francisco Fidalgo (1758-1820) was a Spanish geographer and naval officer, a professor at the Academia de Guardias Marinas in Cádiz, who commanded one of the two divisions of the so-called “Expedición del Atlas de la América Septentrional” [Expedition of the Atlas of North America] a mission carried out at the end of the 18th century by order of the Spanish crown, aimed at creating nautical charts and navigation routes between the Gulf of Mexico and the Antilles. Fidalgo led the geographical exploration from La Guajira (Colombia) to Panama.
This detailed map of the coast of the former Spanish colony of Tierra Firme is one of the outcomes of the expedition. It shows the Colombian Atlantic coast, mainly today’s La Guajira department, as well as the Gulf of Venezuela, and Lake Maracaibo. We can also see the Dutch island of Aruba. The inset at the bottom displays a detail of the Magdalena River “from its mouth at the sea to Escribano Island.”
Price: Euro 850,-
