1726 Stocklein / du Halde Map of Jesuit Missions, Peru and Bolivia

This is an influential c. 1726 map of the Beni in Bolivia and surrounding areas, which appeared in Joseph Stöcklein's Der Neue Weltbott. Based on a c. 1713 manuscript map, it is a critically important map in the cartography of this part of South America, serving as the basis for later maps of the region for years afterwards.

A Closer Look

This map covers portions of modern southeastern Peru and northern Bolivia, centered on the Beni, the remote, low, flatlands situated between the Andes and the Amazon. The map is defined by two large rivers, the Beni and the Mamoré, arteries of a massive network of waterways that ebb and flow with the seasons. Mountains, tributary waterways, and settlements are noted throughout. Missions and many cities bear Christian names, mostly named after saints, while some retain their indigenous names, including Cusco (Guzko) at left, previously the resplendent capital of the Inca Empire. As with 'Moxos' itself, several toponyms employed here were in fact ethnonyms, a common misunderstanding in early European colonial maps.

A Seminal Map

As explained in Mirela Altic's 2022 book Encounters in the New World: Jesuit Cartography of the Americas, this map is based on an anonymous manuscript that was most likely compiled in 1713, when the Jesuit presence in the region was still highly tenuous. Although originally containing some errors (later amended), the 1713 map 'served as the main cartographic source for the representation of the Province of Moxos for a very long time,' being republished in Jesuit publications (including Stöcklein's) and beyond for decades afterwards. The map as it appears in Stöcklein's Neue Weltbott is based on a 1717 modification undertaken by Jean-Baptiste du Halde when he prepared it for publication in the Jesuit journal Lettres édifiantes, turning the map to orient it with north at top instead of east, shrinking it, and making several other changes. In translating the map from French to German, Stöcklein then made a few minor modifications of du Halde's map, resulting in the work seen here.

The Jesuits' Moxos Mission

The Jesuit Moxos mission was a remarkable missionary effort in the Moxos region, located mostly in the present-day Beni Department, Bolivia, on the southwestern edge of the Amazon basin. This seasonally flooded plain was home to numerous indigenous groups like the Moxo (Mojo), Baure, Canichana, Trinitario, who, recent research has revealed, built huge, advanced earthworks that suggest the region supported a much larger pre-Columbian population than previously assumed.

In any event, while geographically close to Peru, the Moxos mission was part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. It was among the last areas of South America outside of Amazonia proper to be reached by missionaries, owing to its remoteness from the coast. Still, once established in the region (at the end of the 17th century), the Jesuits and their mission played a major role in transforming both the religious and cultural life of indigenous groups in the lowlands.

Publication History and Census

This map appeared in Stöcklein's Der Neue Weltbott mit allerhand Nachrichten dern Missionariorum Societatis Jesu, published between 1728 and 1758 (the map itself is generally dated to 1726). It is not independently cataloged with any institution, while Stöcklein's entire work is rare in institutional collections and on the market.