1592 Carpetaniae Partis Descr. Vardulorum, sive Guipuscoae Regionis Typus, Cadiz...

This antique engraving features three maps elegantly arranged on one folio sheet by Flemish cartographer and geographer Abraham Ortelius. The maps featured are of Toledo, the province of Cadiz, and Gipuzoka with its famous capital city of Donostia-San-Sebastien. Spanish text on the verso describes the map. Toledo is featured in the upper left of the engraving. Ortelius took pains to depict the topography of the countryside and the watershed of the mighty Tagus River whose headwaters are in the Sierra de Albarracin of eastern Spain, at a point about 90 miles from the Mediterranean coast. It flows westward across Spain and Portugal for more than six hundred miles to empty into the Atlantic near Lisbon. Its drainage basin is massive and is of vital importance to the economic development of both the nations through which it courses. In this inset are also depicted the cities and towns of the region. The semicircular map of Cadiz is from a manuscript map drawn by George Hoefnagel (credited