Géronimo de Chaves
Géronimo de Chaves,(1523-1574) was a Spanish cartographer, best known as the author of the first atlas map of Florida. His father, Alonso de Chaves, was examiner of pilots at the Casa de Contratacion (officially, La Casa y Audiencia de Indias.) This was the Spanish bureaucracy established by the Crown of Castile in 1503 to administer all matters pertaining to Spain's overseas empire. Its domain included the training of navigators and pilots, and the creation of maps and charts. Géronimo would follow his father in service to the Casa but as Chair of Cartography. It is not known how or precisely when his map passed from Spain to reach Ortelius in Antwerp, but since it did not reach print until ten years after Chaves' death it may be that it was allowed out of the country as obsolete.
First Specific Printed Maps of Florida and Peru.
Peruviae Auriferae Regionis Typus./ La Florida./ Guastecan.
$1,250.00
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This is an elegant example of Ortelius' 1584 engraving that includes the first specific map of Florida, the earliest specific map of Peru, and the first map focusing on the Guastecan province of Mexico. The map is a prime example of Ortelius' strength, not only as a mapmaker, but also as a compiler. All these maps combined here are relevant to each other in that they all derive from Spanish sources and reveal parts of the Spanish Empire in America, despite Spain forbidding the production and dissemination of such maps. Two of these maps credit specific Spanish sources, reflecting Ortelius' position as geographer to the king of Spain. Antwerp was part of the Spanish Empire at the time, and it is a testimony to Ortelius's far-reaching network of contacts throughout Europe that he was able to obtain maps such as these for publication. (more details)