1574 Tierra Nova

This important Ruscelli map of Tierra Nueva (South America), from his work La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino, is based on Gastaldi’s earlier map of the same region, dated 1548. The map covers the entire continent and part of Central America, a few islands in the Caribbean are shown, a portion of the west coast of Africa near Guinea is depicted, along with some islands off the west coast. Eastern South America between the equator and the Tropic of Capricorn yet retains its inaccurate bulge into the Atlantic. Numerous place names follow the configuration of the continent, with nearly all of them along the coastlines. The Straights of Magellan are noted, with just the northern edge of Tierra del Fuego depicted. Inland, the Amazon River system is depicted as running south to north rather than west to east, and the Plata is delineated. The name of the larger area which was first called Santa Cruz and Veracruz, has already been replaced by Terra do Brasil. A number of mountain ran