South America – Jean Janvier, 1765

”L’Amerique Méridionale divisée en ses principaux États”, copper engraving produced by Jean Denis Janvier for Jean Lattre’s “Atlas Moderne” of 1762. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 30.5 × 44.5 cm.

This map presents South America in its full geographical and political extent, from Hispaniola and the Yucatán Peninsula in the north to Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn at the southern extreme. In an east–west direction, the depiction stretches from Mexico to the West African coast, explicitly situating the continent within its Atlantic context.

Political and colonial boundaries are clearly indicated, while numerous cities, regions, Indigenous peoples, mountain ranges, and river systems are identified. In the interior, both contemporary geographical knowledge and older cartographic traditions are evident. The mythical Laguna de Xarayes (“Xarayes Lac”) is shown as the supposed source or northern extension of the Paraguay River, long regarded as a gateway to the legendary El Dorado. An erroneous connection between the Amazon and Orinoco river systems is also depicted, a persistent cartographic misconception of the early modern period.

At the time this map was produced, nearly all of South America was under Spanish colonial rule, albeit increasingly difficult to administer. Only Portuguese Brazil and several Dutch enclaves in Guyana disrupted Spanish hegemony. All three powers exploited the continent aggressively: the mountainous western regions were rapaciously mined to meet the urgent demand in China and Europe for silver to stabilise their economies, while the coastal lowlands were dominated by vast sugar plantations. By contrast, large parts of the interior—especially the Amazon and Orinoco basins—remained largely unknown and only fragmentarily mapped.

Price: Euro 175,-