Paraguay o Prov. De rio de la Plata

A ‘No Man’s Land’ between Spanish Peru and Portuguese Brazil.

This attractive copperplate engraved map of South America covers the middle third of the continent around the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. The image includes portions of the modern-day countries of Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina, but around the time of publication the area was part of the colonial claims shared between Portugal and Spain.

Despite sharing the same monarch as part of the Iberian Union between 1580 and 1640, regional interests took priority, and competition for local resources, settlements, and native allies was fierce. Place names identify a variety of colonial settlements, indigenous towns, missions, and more. The Andes are depicted prominently and labeled along the left side of the page, along with Lake Titicaca and other prominent geographic features.

The map was published in Leiden in 1630 as part of Johannes de Laet’s Nieuwe Wereldt often Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien (Description of the West Indies). The work was originally issued in 1625 and contained ten maps – this is from the slightly updated version that contained fourteen maps and an additional 100 pages of text, reflecting the increased interest of the Dutch in the New World.

Described by Philip Burden as “arguably the finest description of the Americas published during the seventeenth century,” the maps in de Laet’s work were based directly off the cartography of Hessel Gerritsz, considered by some to be the foremost mapmaker of the Dutch Golden Age of Cartography. Gerritsz was the exclusive cartographer for the Dutch East India Company and had access to some of the most up-to-date information available. His maps are generally only available in manuscript form and those published by de Laet are some of the few available to collectors today.

Johannes de Laet was no slouch, either, and he used meticulous research and contemporary sources when compiling his geographic data. As a director of the newly formed Dutch West India Company, the latest information from private correspondence, manuscripts, and other company secrets would have also been made available when compiling the maps.

Sources: Shirley (BL Atlases) G.LAET-1b, Burden,