The Image of Precision

The Case of the Longitudinal Amazon

Bibliographic Data

ID14700970
AuthorsRoberto Chauca (0000-0002-0424-8578, The University of Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume58
Issue4
Pages175-188
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCartographica The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0317-7173 • E-ISSN: 1911-9925
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/cart-2023-0006
OpenAlexW4389795771
LanguageEN
References cited15

A set of maps from the middle of the sixteenth century featuring the New World, such as those by Jean Rotz (1542), Giacomo Gastaldi (1546), and Jean Bellère (1554), presented a peculiarity regarding the delineation of the Amazon River. Instead of having a latitudinal direction, as dictated by modern cartographic conventions, the Amazon had a longitudinal orientation. This is often assumed to be an inaccurate cartographic representation of the river. However, these maps were rather precise insofar as, according to contemporaneous accounts of South America provided by scholars such as Peter Martyr, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, and Francisco López de Gómara, the Amazon had a potential longitudinal course. In this sense, the author aims to explain the accuracy of some of the early modern cartographies of Amazonia by placing these maps in dialogue with geographic and hydrographic descriptions of the river that circulated at that time. Consequently, this work re-evaluates the notion of precision when applied to the study of the early European mapping of the Amazon River

Amazon rainforest · Archaeology · Cartography · Geography · Georeference · Hydrography · Martyr · Physical geography · Politics · Representation (politics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Latin American history and culture · Ecology

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