1749 Vaugondy Map of Paraguay
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Le Paraguay. Par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy, Fils de Mr. Robert Geog. du Roi.
Map of Paraguy and Uruguay, depicting the mysterious Laguna de los Xaraies.
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Map of Paraguy and Uruguay, depicting the mysterious Laguna de los Xaraies.
This is a 1749 Didier Robert de Vaugondy map of Paraguay. The map depicts from the border between Paraguay, Brazil, and Peru to Rio de la Plata and Uruguay (Uraguay) and from Chili to the Atlantic Ocean. The Laguna de los Xaraies is labeled along the top border a mysterious lake that appeared on maps of South America from about 1600 to 1850. The Laguna, located new Matte Grosso, was often associated with the gateway to the Amazon, legends of El Dorado, and the Earthy Paradise.The name Xaraies comes from the Xarayes (a corruption of 'Xaraiés'), an indigenous people occupying what are today parts of Brazil's Matte Grosso and the Pantanal. When Spanish and Portuguese explorers first navigated up the Paraguay River, in search of El Dorado, they encountered the vast Pantanal flood plain at the height of its annual inundation. Understandably misinterpreting the flood plain as a gigantic inland sea, they named it after the local inhabitants, the Xaraies. The Laguna de los Xaraies began to appear on maps of the region and almost immediately began to take on a legendary aspect. To the north of the Laguna was believed to be the gateway to the Amazon and the Kingdom of El Dorado. Sadly, later explorers discovered that, in addition to the absence of El Dorado, the Paraguay River did not connect to the Amazon system.
Highly detailed, the map is covered in forests, mountain ranges, rivers, and lakes. Myriad cities and towns are labeled, including Asuncion (Assomption), Buenos Aires (Buenos Ayres), and Montevideo. The Rio de la Plata (Riv. De la Plata ou Paraguay) is the focal point of the lower half of the map, separating Argentina from Uruguay. South of the Rio de la Plata, the Pampas are labeled.
This map was published by Gilles Robert de Vaugondy in his Atlas Universel, Portatif et Militaire in the 1749 edition.
Cartographer
Robert de Vaugondy (fl. c. 1716 - 1786) was a French publishing firm run by Gilles (1688 - 1766) and Didier (c. 1723 - 1786) Robert de Vaugondy. They were map publishers, engravers, and cartographers active in Paris during the mid-18th century. Gilles was the nephew of Pierre Moulard Sanson, and was thus the inheritor of Nicolas Sanson (1600 - 1667), whose stock supplied much of their initial material and whose legacy supplied much of their initial reputation. Graduating from Sanson's maps, Gilles, and more particularly Didier, began to produce their own substantial corpus. The Vaugondys were well-respected for the detail and accuracy of their maps, for which they capitalized on the resources of 18th-century Paris to compile the most accurate and fantasy-free maps possible. The Vaugondys compiled each map based on their own geographic knowledge, scholarly research, journals of contemporary explorers and missionaries, and direct astronomical observation. Moreover, unlike many cartographers of this period, they took pains to reference their sources. Nevertheless, even in 18th-century Paris, geographical knowledge was limited - especially regarding those unexplored portions of the world, including the poles, the Pacific Northwest of America, and the interiors of Africa, Australia, and South America. This gap in knowledge let to divergent geographical approaches, epitomized by the Buache-Vaugondy debates at the French Academie des Sciences - one of the key pivotal moments in the history of modern cartography. Buache, in his Exposé, argued for a Theoretical Geography, which postulated that a systematic and scientific approach could accurately fill in the map in advance of actual exploration. Vaugondy's scathing critique of the Exposé, presented as the Considerations, argued for empirical restraint in cartography, suggesting that unexplored areas should simply be left blank and that mapping itself should rely on documentable current discovery. While Bucahe, with more political acumen and connections, initially came out ahead in the debates, the subsequent decades saw voyages of discovery by Captains James Cook, Jean Francois de Galaup de La Perouse, and George Vancouver disprove most of his map. Nonetheless, by that time, Vaugondy, advanced in age, did not live long enough to see his approach become ascendant. Didier died more celebrated than solvent, and his maps were acquired by Jean-Baptiste Fortin, who in 1787 sold them to Charles-François Delamarche (1740 - 1817). Delamarche, more businessman than cartographer, prospered from the Vaugondy maps, but defrauded Vaugondy's widow, Marie Louise Rosalie Dangy, of her rightful inheritance and may even have killed her. Further Details...
Source
Robert de Vaugondy, G., Atlas Portatif, Universel, et Militaire, (Paris: Vaugondy, Durand, Pissot) 1749.
Condition
Very good. Blank on verso. Original press mark visible.
References
Pedley, M. S., Bel et Utile, p. 218, 496. OCLC 431576342.