Colonial Possessions
Although the Spanish Empire declined somewhat in
political importance during the seventeenth century, it
remained a powerful entity whose territories continued to
provide important trading destinations. Many people
throughout Europe, especially merchants and politicians,
needed basic information about the location and extent of
the empire's various territories. Dutch commercial
cartographers provided this information in a variety of
forms. Abraham Allard, for example, listed the Spanish
(and Portuguese) possessions in a large block of text; he
also named the ancient peoples (e.g., the Turditani of
Badajoz) of the seventeen regions from which Spain and
Portugal were formed (17). A few years later, Zacharias
Châtelain represented the Spanish empire in Europe, the
Americas, and Asia through a series of small maps (18); the
descriptions gave basic historical information, including the
length and breadth of each territory (measured in French
common leagues, each about 23/4 miles).
17
18
Dutch, 1676-1725
WEG-WYZER der LEGERTOGTEN in SPANJE en PORTUGAAL . . .
Leiden, ca. 1700
Engraving, hand colored, 50.3 x 58.7 cm.
18. ZACHARIAS CHÂTELAIN
Dutch, fl. 1700-1740
Carte d'Espagne et Principaux Etats Appartenans a
Cette Monarchie dans les 4 Parties du Monde
From: Atlas Historique
Amsterdam, CHEZ FRANÇOIS L'HONORÉ &
COMPAGNIE, 1705
Engraving, hand colored, 32.5 x 43.5 cm., with 14 insets.
19
20
21
British, 1718-1784
THE WEST INDIES
From: Guthrie's A new Geographical Grammar
London, [J. KNOX], ca. 1770
Engraving, hand colored, 33.8 x 37.7 cm.
20. GUILLAUME DE LISLE
French, 1675-1726
CARTE DE L'ISLE DE SAINT DOMINGUE . . . 1722/ca.1775
From: Atlas Nouveau . . .
Paris, JEAN COVENS & CORNEILLE MORTIER, ca. 1757
Engraving, hand colored, 47.0 x 61.2 cm.
21. JEAN BAPTISTE BOURGUIGNON D'ANVILLE
French, 1697-1782
L'ISLE ESPANGNOLE SOUS LE NOM INDIEN
D'HAYTI
From: Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, HISTOIRE DE
L'ISLE ESPAGNOLE . . .
Paris, FRANÇOIS DIDOT, 1731
Engraving, 20.0 x 29.4 cm.
With the decline of the Spanish empire, other European
countries encroached on Spanish territories. The Caribbean
islands were particularly desirable because of their rich
sugar plantations. Thomas Kitchin showed the political
status of the Caribbean islands in 1770 with abbreviations
(e.g., "Cuba S.," "S" being for "Spanish") and with outline
colors (Spanish in red, French in green, English in yellow)
(19); note both Kitchin's legend and his notes about specific
islands. One such note deals with the island of Hispaniola:
the western half of the island was ceded by Spain to the
French in 1697 as the colony of St Domingue (it became the
republic of Haiti in 1790). The divided island was an
obvious subject for French map makers. Guillaume de
l'Isle, géographe du roi, mapped the island in great detail
and with great accuracy in his general atlas (20). J. B. B.
d'Anville, another French royal geographer illustrated the
island for an historical text; as Columbus had first landed
on Hispaniola, his coat-of-arms which feature a map of the
Caribbean was included (21).
22
23
French, 1703-1772
VILLE DE S DOMINGUE dans l'isle de ce Nom.
From: LE PETIT ATLAS MARITIME RECUEIL DE CARTES ET PLANS . . .
Paris, 1764
Engraving, 16.2 x 21.7 cm.
23. ALLAIN MANESSON-MALLET
French, 1630-1706
der Grundriss von der Stadt dee Heyl: Dominicus: Le
plan de l'Lsle de ST. JAN de PTO. RICO . . . 1683/1684
From: Die Fortsetzung des alten und neuen Europa . . . und
America, vol. 5 of Beschreibung des ganzen Welt-Kreisses
. . . In fünff theile verfasset
Frankfurt am Main, JOHANN DAVID ZUNNERS, 1684
Engraving, 10.7 x 14.7 cm.
A further subject of the French mapping of Hispaniola was
the island's principal town, also called St Domingue, which
lay in the portion of the island under Spanish rule; it is now
known as Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican
republic. Bellin's map identified the key locations in the
town, such as the cathedral (the first built in the New
World, "B"), and the Casa del Cordón (the House of Cord,
built in 1509, the oldest surviving European building in the
New World, "M") (22). The smaller and less detailed town
map, by Manesson-Mallet, comes from the German edition
of his 17th-century travel guide to Europe and the New
World.
Osher Map Library
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