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1733 Homann Heirs Map of Southern South America (Paraguay, Chile, Argentina)
ChiliParaguay-homannheirs-1733Homann Heirs (1730 - 1848) were a map publishing house based in Nurenburg, Germany, in the middle to late 18th century. After the great mapmaker Johann Baptist Homann's (1664 - 1724) death in 1724, management of the firm passed to his son Johann Christoph Homann (1703 - 1730). J. C. Homann, perhaps realizing that he would not long survive his father, stipulated in his will that the company would be inherited by his two head managers, Johann Georg Ebersberger (1695 - 1760) and Johann Michael Franz (1700 - 1761), and that it would publish only under the name 'Homann Heirs'. This designation, in various forms (Homannsche Heirs, Heritiers de Homann, Lat Homannianos Herod, Homannschen Erben, etc..) appears on maps from about 1731 onwards. The firm continued to publish maps in ever diminishing quantities until the death of its last owner, Christoph Franz Fembo (1781 - 1848). More by this mapmaker...
The De L'Isle family (fl. c. 1700 - c. 1760) (also written Delisle) were, in composite, a mapmaking tour de force who redefined early 18th century European cartography. Claude De L'Isle (1644 -1720), the family patriarch, was Paris based a historian and geographer under Nicholas Sanson. De L'Isle and his sons were proponents of the school of "positive geography" and were definitive figures, defining the heights of the Golden Age of French Cartography. Of his twelve sons, four, Guillaume (1675 - 1726), Simon Claude (1675 - 1726), Joseph Nicholas (1688 - 1768) and Louis (1720 - 1745), made a significant contributions to cartography. Without a doubt Guillaume was the most remarkable member of the family. It is said that Guillaume's skill as a cartographer was so prodigious that he drew his first map at just nine years of age. He was tutored by J. D. Cassini in astronomy, science, mathematics and cartography. By applying these diverse disciplines to the vast stores of information provided by 18th century navigators, Guillaume created the technique that came to be known as "scientific cartography", essentially an extension of Sanson's "positive geography". This revolutionary approach transformed the field of cartography and created a more accurate picture of the world. Among Guillaume's many firsts are the first naming of Texas, the first correct map of the Mississippi, the final rejection of the insular California fallacy, and the first identification of the correct longitudes of America. Stylistically De L'Isle also initiated important changes to the medium, eschewing the flamboyant Dutch style of the previous century in favor of a highly detailed yet still decorative approach that yielded map both beautiful and informative. Guillaume was elected to the French Academie Royale des Sciences at 27. Later, in 1718, he was also appointed "Premier Geographe du Roi", an office created especially for him. De L'Isle personally financed the publication of most of his maps, hoping to make heavy royalties on their sales. Unfortunately he met an untimely death in 1728, leaving considerable debt and an impoverished child and widow. De L'Isle's publishing firm was taken over by his assistant, Phillipe Buache who became, posthumously, his son in law. The other De L'Isle brothers, Joseph Nicholas and Louis De L'Isle, were employed in the Service of Peter the Great of Russia as astronomers and surveyors. They are responsible for cataloguing and compiling the data obtained from Russian expeditions in the Pacific and along the northwest coast of America, including the seminal explorations of Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov. The De L'Isles, like their rivals the Vaugondys , must be considered speculative geographers. Speculative geography was a genre of mapmaking that evolved in Europe, particularly Paris, in the middle to late 18th century. Cartographers in this genre would fill in unknown areas on their maps with speculations based upon their vast knowledge of cartography, personal geographical theories, and often dubious primary source material gathered by explorers and navigators. This approach, which attempted to use the known to validate the unknown, naturally engendered many rivalries. The era of speculatively cartography effectively ended with the late 18th century explorations of Captain Cook, Jean Francois de Galaup de La Perouse, and George Vancouver. Learn More...
Alonso de Ovalle Pastene (July 27, 1603 - May 11, 1651) was a Chilean born historian, educator and Jesuit, known for producing Historia relacion del Reyno de Chile, the first history of Chile. He was born in Santiago, Chile, son of Francisco Rodríguez del Manzano Ovalle and María Pastene Lantadilla Astudillo. Alonso lived and worked for most of his life in Chile, but resided in Rome from 1642 to 1650, where he had his work published. It included arguably the most important early map of Chile, the first printed map of the region produced by someone who actually lived there. He returned to South America, dying in Lima in 1651. Learn More...
Amédée-François Frézier (1682 - October 26, 1773) was a French military engineer, mathematician, spy, and explorer. He was born in Savoy to a professor and lawyer. He was sent to be educated in Paris, where he studied science and theology, and wrote his thesis on Astronomy and Navigation. He went on to study art and architecture in Italy with particular attention to fortifications. On his return to France in 1700 he was commissioned to the military: by 1712 he had risen to a lieutenant-colonelcy of Army Intelligence, and was sent to South America - in the guise of a merchant captain - to study defense fortifications, ports, and the coastal charts of Spanish Colonial Chile and Peru. The journey would result in the production of more than a dozen maps. In addition to his espionage work, he reported on the flora and fauna and produce of the regions he visited - bringing back to Europe specimens of native American strawberry, his namesake fruit. He would travel again in 1719, assigned as Engineer-in-Chief to Santo Domingo and tasked with the fortification of the colony; to this end he produced a map of the island and a plan of Santo Domingo. He returned to Europe, was rewarded for his labors, and went on to design fortifications in Philippsburg and Landau. In 1739, he was made Director of Fortifications for Brittany. Learn More...
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This copy is copyright protected.
Copyright © 2024 Geographicus Rare Antique Maps