Cruz Cano y Olmedilla, Juan de la
Juan de la Cruz Cano y Olmedilla (May 14, 1734 - February 13, 1790) was a Spanish cartographer, geographer, and academician active in Madrid in the late 18th century. Juan was born in Madrid. In 1752 Juan was sent to Paris with fellow cartographer Tomás López de Vargas Machuca (1730 - 1802) to study map engraving under the great French geographer Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697 - 1782). While there he and Lopez published 1755 map of the Gulf of Mexico. He remained in Paris through 1760, when he became a member of the San Fernando Academy. He was also an honorary member of the Basque Society of Friends of the Country. In 1765, he was contracted by Paul Jerome Grimaldi and Pallavicini (1710 - 1789), the Marquis de Grimaldi, to complete a massive remapping of South America. This map, issued in 1775 and again in 1802, became the definitive map of South America, informing all subsequent maps and most political decisions on the continent until the late 19th century. Today just 8 examples survives, most in the Archivo General de Indias de Sevilla.
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