1776 Zatta Map of California, Bering Strait, Alaska, Siberia, and Western North America

An Ostrich, Elephant, and Alligator walk into the Northwest Passage...

This is Antonio Zatta's 1776 map of the North Pacific, a richly decorative vision of northwestern America before Cook's surveys transformed European understanding of the region. Extending from Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes westward to Siberia and Japan, it assembles an extraordinary collection of geographical conjectures: de Fonte's Northwest Passage, the Strait of Anian, a supposed Chinese colony, the River of the West, and the legendary lands of Quivira and Teguayo. Russian discoveries mingle with imaginary waterways and misplaced kingdoms, capturing a moment when exploration and speculation shared the same map.

De Fonte and the Northwest Passage

The map's most striking feature is its elaborate network of waterways suggesting a navigable passage between the Pacific and Hudson Bay. Zatta follows the speculative geography promoted by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle and Philippe Buache, drawing on the supposed discoveries of Admiral Bartholomew de Fonte. First published in 1708, the apocryphal account described a 1640 voyage through immense inland lakes and rivers, culminating in an encounter with a vessel from Boston. Although unsupported by reliable evidence, the story became a powerful argument for the existence of a Northwest Passage.

Here, lakes Velasco, Bello, de Fonte, and Michinipi help give that imagined passage geographical substance. The Strait and Kingdom of Anian add another enduring cartographic legend, placing a conjectural gateway between Asia and America within this already remarkable landscape.

Fusang: A Chinese Colony in America

Among the map's most unusual features is 'Fou-Sang,' identified as a Chinese colony on America's northwest coast. The name derives from early Chinese accounts of a distant eastern land, which the French scholar Joseph de Guignes interpreted as evidence of Chinese contact with America. Zatta gives this controversial theory a concrete location, preserving a fascinating episode in European speculation about transpacific exploration.

The River of the West and the Interior Salt Lake

Inland, Zatta depicts a great westward-flowing river issuing from 'L. Salso,' near the lands of the Moozemlek and Tahuglauks. This speculative river system promised access to the Pacific from the continental interior. Nearby, 'F. Longo' recalls Baron de Lahontan's disputed account of a 'Long River' west of the Mississippi.

The salt lake invites comparison with the Great Salt Lake, but its position within this conjectural geography makes a definite identification problematic. Its interest lies in how reports of western lakes and rivers, filtered through successive authors and mapmakers, acquired authority.

Quivira and Teguayo

Quivira and Teguayo preserve the influence of Spanish Conquistador efforts to discover, explore, and conquer rich indigenous kingdoms beyond New Mexico. Their uncertain locations led cartographers to place them at various speculative locations throughout the then little-known American West. Zatta places them within a landscape already crowded with conjectural rivers and lakes, bringing together several generations of geographical hopes and misunderstandings.

Russian Discoveries and Phantom Islands

Across the Pacific, northeastern Asia reflects the discoveries associated with Vitus Bering and Russian exploration. Yet the American side remains deeply uncertain: Alaska is fragmented into islands rather than represented as a coherent peninsula. Farther south, the phantom island of Gama survives near Japan. These features give the map much of its historical appeal, showing how discoveries were incorporated into an inherited framework.

Decorative Cartouche

The elaborate lower-left title cartouche reinforces the map's imaginative character. An elephant, a crocodilian, and other exotic or ambiguously rendered creatures occupy a coastal scene, with a sailing vessel offshore. The vignette offers a European vision of exotic lands whose natural history remained as uncertain as their geography.

Publication History and Census

Antonio Zatta issued the map in Venice in 1776 for his Atlante Novissimo, published in four volumes between 1779 and 1785. Examples of the separately cataloged map are recorded at the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Washington.

Cartographer

Antonio Zatta (1722 - February 16, 1804) was a Venetian printer and publisher whose illustrated books and atlases made him a leading figure in late 18th-century Italian publishing. Born in Venice into a printing family active since 1656, he attempted to relocate to Rovereto in 1752, but Venetian authorities blocked the move. The merchant Amedeo Svajer financed his early ventures. His connections with the Jesuits, including publications defending the order under false imprints (1760 - 1761), attracted controversy, although these ties weakened during the 1760s. Geography became a major undertaking: he published Anton Friedrich Büsching's Nuova geografia in 34 volumes (1773 - 1782), followed by the four-volume Atlante novissimo, illustrato ed accresciuto (1779 - 1785), comprising approximately 240 maps. Portions appeared separately, notably Le colonie unite dell'America settentr.le, an Italian adaptation of John Mitchell's 1755 map. His geographical publications also included Cook's voyages (1794 - 1795) and the map-illustrated political periodical Prospetto degli affari attuali dell'Europa (1788 - 1801). Beyond cartography, he published literature, medicine, and Buffon's natural history (1782 - 1791), cultivating collaborations with leading Venetian illustrators and engravers. His sons Giacomo and Giovanni joined the business in 1783; the printing house closed shortly after his death.   Further Details...

Source

Zatta, A., Atlante novissimo, illustrato ed accresciuto sulle osservazioni, e scoperte fatte dai piu celebri e piu recenti geografi, (Venice: Presso Antonio Zatta) 1779 - 1784.    

Condition

Excellent.

References

Portinaro, Pierluigi and Knirsch, Franco, The Cartography of North America 1500 - 1800, pl. CXXXIV. Wheat, C. I., Mapping of the Transmississippi West, 1540-1861, 167. Wagner, H. R., The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800, 654. Campbell, T. Early Maps, pl. 21. Armstrong, J. C. W., From Sea unto Sea: Art and Discovery Map of Canada, #32. Lowery, W., The Lower Collection: A Descriptive List of Maps of the Spanish Possessions within the Present Limits of the United States, 1502-1820., 584. Phillips (Atlases) 650 Vol 1, No. 15 or 652 Vol. 4, No. 42. Kershaw, K. A., Early Printed Maps of Canada, 1223. OCLC 80151182.