Asia Divisa nelle sue Parti secondo lo stato presente Descritta, e Dedicata…

Vincenzo Coronelli’s impressive c.17th map of Asia on two separate sheets which was very advanced for its day.

The map included geographical information sourced from the Jesuits who had an extensive network of missions in Asia. A panel on the left of the map includes a note acknowledging the geographical activities of the Jesuits and the title cartouche includes a dedication to Thyrsus Gonzalez de Santalla, the thirteenth Superior-General of the Society of Jesus. Coronelli himself was a Franciscan priest and widely recognised as one of the greatest cartographers and globemakers of the seventeenth century, most famous for having constructed a pair of the world’s largest globes for King Louis XIV, measuring over 4.5 metres in diameter and weighing approximately two tonnes, the globes were large enough to hold up to thirty people inside.

Text on the map notes several points of interest including ”Tera di Concordia was discovered in the year 1618′‘, referring to the discoveries made by Hartog in the Eendracht in 1616, not 1618. Jacobsz’s voyage is noteworthy for the fact that on board the Mauritius was Anthony van Diemen and Willem Jansz, former master of the Duyfken, on his second voyage to Australia. Another note states: ”…they believe that the newly discovered land is M. Polo’s the country of Lochac…’. Although these comments perpetuate the age-old errors from the scribed accounts of Marco Polo, the map does accurately record other Dutch discoveries in Australia including those of Houtman in the Dordrecht and the Amsterdam 1619, the van Leeuwin 1622, Carstensz in the Leijden 1623, Nuyts in the Gulden Zeepaert 1627, de Wit in the Vianen 1628 and the two voyages of Abel Tasman on the Heemskerck and Zeehaen 1642-3 and 1644. New Zealand is shown according to Tasman’s discovery in 1642 but Coronelli incorrectly states that it was discovered in 1654.

From; Coronelli, V. Atlante Veneto. Venice