LA TERRE ET LES ISLES MAGELLANIQUES
£495
Attractive and detailed map of the Straits of Magellan and the southernmost part of South America by Guillaume Sanson, member of the most important French mapmaking family of the seventeenth century, and here published by Mariette
Sanson's map of the region was the first detailed map of the southern part of South America to appear in a French atlas. The map is remarkably detailed for the period and reflects the most up-to-date information brought back to Paris from foreign and Jesuit sources.
The map features the Terre Magellanique, which encompasses what is today Argentina and Chile. The Andes form a prominent spine down the length of the landmass. There are several Spanish settlements on the Chilean side of the continent; the Magellanique side is far less settled, a vast expanse with a few rivers and large open spaces.
To the west is the island of Chiloé (here Chilue), with its capital of Castro marked. When the Spanish first saw the island in 1540, they found it inhabited by the Chono, Huilliche, and Cunco peoples. For much of the Spanish colonial period, and when this map was made, the island was near the southernmost boundary of Spanish settlement in Chile; south of the dotted line shown here was the territory of the Indigenous peoples who fiercely defended their autonomy and land.
Original outline colour
Very good condition
REF References: Pastoureau, p. 416 Sanson V E [217]
code : M5404
Cartographer : SANSON Nicolas
Date : 1668 Paris
Size : 38*50.5 cms sheet size 45*60 cms
availability : Available
Price : £495
Nicolas Sanson (1600-1667) is generally acknowledged as the founder of the great French school of geographers and cartographers that supplanted the Dutch as the leading European map-makers. His work was acclaimed for its geographical accuracy and high standard of engraving. As a consequence, his many maps received a wide diffusion. His career marks the start of the process by which Paris superseded Amsterdam as the centre of European map production.
Nicolas studied Ancient History as a young man, and this awoke in him an interest in classical geography. His first map, of ancient Gaul was made in 1618, when he was only 18. Sanson had three sons, Nicolas (1626-1648), Guillaume (d.1703) and Adrien (d.1708), and a grandson Pierre Moullard-Sanson (d.1730), all of whom were involved in the family’s map-making activities.
After Sanson settled in Paris his work came to the attention of King Louis XIII, who eventually appointed Sanson Geographe Ordinaire du Roi, one of whose duties was to tutor the King in geography. Sanson published some 300 maps in his career, though his first most famous atlas, the folio “Cartes Generales De Toutes Les Parties Du Monde” was not published until 1658. Sanson also prepared a series of quarto atlases of the different continents. These scarce atlases are more frequently encountered in the Dutch piracy, engraved by Anthony d’Winter, first published in 1683.
The Sanson atlases are rarely found with a standard set of maps; the practice seems to have been that additional, or revised, plates would be inserted as available. After Sanson’s death the business was continued by his two surviving sons and grandson, in partnership with, and later superseded by Alexis Hubert Jaillot.
