Spanish Western Indies (1601)

Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas general map of America, the Pacific Ocean and the Eastern part of Asia, from his "Descripcion de las Yndias Occidentales" (Western Indies Description), first published as part of his "Historia General", in Madrid in 1601.

The author, official historial of Phillip III of Spain, compiled a history of the Indies accompanied by maps of the West Indies and Central and South America. His works were reissued in several editions and languages during the first half of the 17th century.

 Herrera y Tordesilla's general map is drawn from the manuscript map of Juan Lopez de Velasco (ca 1575), of which there are 4 known surviving examples, including one at the John Carter Brown Library, which this printed version most closely follows. The map illustrates the Line of Demarcation between the Spanish and Portugese colonial claims (running through Brazil in America and through China and the Malay Peninsula in Asia), although the East Indies are shifted some 40 degrees to the East, placing them (not surprisingly) under Spanish control. California is named, as are the Isle of Cedro and C. de Fortun, with Florida named in the East.