An ornate map of the Pacific Ocean by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (1650‐1718). It includes the entire west coast of the American continent northwards to beyond California which is depicted as an island. The island depiction took hold following its first inclusion on a map in 1622. It would not be refuted for another decade or so and still take several more to die completely. It is entitled ‘Mare del Sud’ or South Sea, the name deriving from Vasco Núñez Balboa’s first view of it looking south, having crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513.

“This map of the Pacific Ocean depicts the route of Jacob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten through the Pacific in 1615-17. This was one of the more crucial voyages as it proved by sailing around Cape Horn that Tierra del Fuego was an island and not part of the southern continent. Legends refer to voyages of the Dutch to TERRA DE IESSO in 1643, Australia in 1642, and unlike the PLANISFERO Coronelli dates the discovery of NUOVA ZELANDA to 1654. In a further legend just south of the equator Coronelli states that the Spanish crossed the central Pacific from New Mexico to the Philippines in sixty days.” (Burden).

In the east or western Pacific Tartary, Japan, the Ladrones, and New Guinea are featured. South of that is New Holland, yet to be mapped fully, with van Dieman’s land to the south, and to the east New Zealand. The legend in the Pacific details the trade winds and the length of the crossing at just 1,650 leagues! The ornate title is positioned in an open shell held aloft by two cherubs. A third cherub holds aloft the coat of arms of the Holy Roman Empire. The map was published in the ‘Atlante Veneto’ during the 1690s. Only the one state is known however this is an early issue as a plate crack developed in the lower right margin above Tierra del Fuego. Burden (1999-2007) no. 680; Leighly (1972) no. 90; McLaughlin & Mayo (1995) no. 104; Shirley (2004) T.Coro-7a no. 19; Suarez (2004); Wagner (1937) pp. 135-7 & no. 436.