References
- A version of a paper presented at the VIIIth International Conference on the history of cartography, Berlin 1979. The author would like to thank Professor D. B. Quinn, Max Guedes, Joyce Lorimer, Gunther Schilder, Marcel Destombes and Tony Campbell for their generous advice.
- Joyce Lorimer has described the history of English trade and settlements in Guiana in her unpublished thesis ‘English trade and exploration in Trinidad and Guiana’ (Liverpool 1973) which has provided much of the historical background for this discussion. Hereinafter referred to as J. Lorimer (1973).
- Koeman , C. , ed. 1973 . The History of the cartography of Suriname 1500–1971. Amsterdam The earliest Spanish chart of the coastline seems to date from the 1560s. A reproduction is to be found in
- See fig. 1. and accompanying key. I am indebted to Mr. C. Cromarty who drew fig. 1. and 6. A chart of the river Orinoco dated 1629 drawn by a Dutch mapmaker, but which includes a scale of English leagues and may therefore be based on an English survey, survives in the Rijksarchief (the Hague) at Leupe 653‐ ‘Caerte van de River van Orinoque gelyck de selve is sareckende vant begins el tot St Thomas de la guane toe Ano 1629’.
- Williamson , J. A. 1923 . English colonies in Guiana and on the Amazon 1604–1668 60 Oxford
- Smith , John . 1630 . The true travels, adventures and observations of Captaine John Smith. 49 London Morton was described as such by
- Letter to William Moreton Esq. of Moreton, Cheshire from Matthew Morton dated London, 5 May 1619. British Library, Additional MS 33935 f. 27.
- Letter to William Moreton, 19 November 1619 from Mathew Morton. British Library Additional MS 33935 f. 32.
- See fig. 2. Compare with fig. 6. Fig. 2. By kind permission of Duke of Northumberland.
- See fig. 3. Compare with fig. 6. Fig. 3. By kind permission of Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
- Howes , Edmund , ed. 1615 . The Annales, or Generall Chronicle of England, begun first by maister John Stow 946
- British Library, Lansdowne MS 160 f. 109 dated 15 March 1618. Cited as areference in J. Lorimer (1973).
- Public Record Office ?. 190/820/1 entry in the Port Books for 27.6.1614. Seems to refer to the Lions Clawe of London, to Matthew Morton and to [?] Knighte. As the entry is very faded the transcription may be incorrect. Cited as a reference inj. Lorimer (1973).
- Transcripts of manuscript documents in the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, held in the British Library Department of Manuscripts Additional MS 36320. f. 186. ‘Thomas Rey’ may mean Thomas King whose name in Spanish would indeed be ‘Rey’ or it may, as usually stated, refer to Roe himself.
- Printed in Studart, Guilherme, baräo de: Documentos para a historia do Brasil espetialmente a do Ceará, 1608–1625. Quarto volume (Fortaleza‐Ceará, 1921). pp. 8–10. ‘No. 232 4 de Septembro de 1616—Carta Regia sobre a expedicao de Francisco Caldeira—Codice da Bibliotheca de Eduardo Prado’. I am indebted to my colleague Harold Whitehead for his translation of this and the following quotation.
- Documentos para a historia da conquista e colonisacão da costa de leste‐oeste do Brasil. (Rio de Janeiro, 1905). pp. 207–209. ‘Carta del L. do D. Francisco de Texada y Mendoza sobre la poblacion del Rio Marañon ... y de lo que contiene un Memorial del Padre Xptoval de Acuña sobre el descubrimiento del Rio de las Amazonas ... 14 Feb. 1617.
- British Library Additional MS. 17940 A. Comparison with the maps in Walter Ralegh's commonplace book of about 1616 (British Library Additional MS. 57555) seems to corroborate that the place‐names of the map of Guiana are in his hand. In 1596 Thomas Hariot, writing to Cecil, refers to Ralegh having taken his principal chart of Guiana to Cadiz leaving him to draft a chart from Ralegh's notes and writings. Some pencilled additions showing the west coast of northern South America are not in Ralegh's hand. (See fig. 1. No. 1.).
- Penrose , B. 1952 . Travel and discovery in the Renaissance 1420–1620 108 Cambridge, Massachusetts R. A. Skelton thought it was the work of Thomas Hood but this attribution seems doubtful. Its association with Downe rests on the report of 31 July 1596 that Sir George Trenchard and Sir Ralph Horsey, assistants to the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, took possession of the ‘plott or discovery of the Indies voyage ... being in the custody of one Samuel Mace and William Downe’. The items ‘an Indyan carde [chart of the West Indies?!, with two others not perfected’ were sent to Robert Cecil. They are not present in the collection at Hatfield House. (See fig. 1. No. 2)
- Keymis , Lawrence . 1596 . A relation of the second voyage to Guiana 25 London Downe told Keymis that he had sailed up the Wiapoco (Oyapock), which does not appear on the map. Keymis himself relates (p. 2.) that he first anchored in the mouth of the Arrowarie (Araguari), which is also not shown. Apart from the absence of information to the south of the ‘river of Chilliana’, the chartmaker has placed the Equator passing through the mouth of the river Orinoco—an error not made on earlier or contemporary English charts
- Letter to Juan de Harra in Lisbon from Alvaro Mendez de Castro dated 16 January 1599 reporting the presence of the English on the Amazon. British Library Additional MS 36317 f. 237.
- These charts are reproduced in Venezuela—British Guiana Boundary Arbitration: The case of the United States of Venezuela ... vol. 4. Appendix, atlas. (Baltimore, 1898) pl. 57 and 58.
- Davies , William . 1614 . A True relation of the travailles and most miserable captivity ... London Sig. D. 3.
- Fig. 4. One of a series of manuscript charts showing the Guianan coastline and mouth of the Amazon. This one includes a MS note indicating that it was drawn after the voyage of Robert Thornton to Guiana. Robert Dudley, self‐styled Duke of Northumberland, supplied Thornton with charts for the voyage and evidently received information on Thornton's return. The MS atlas is in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Icon. 139 f. 52b.v The MS note (not printed in the published Arcano of 1648) is as follows: ?1 porto di Chiana fu scoperto dal Capne: Robto: Thertono Inglese nel 1609 .. . Instructioni dato dal Duca di Northumbria... il primo Inglese ch'entrava nel Imperio di Guiana nel 1594 ...’. The area showing the mouth of the Amazon was revised on a later chart ‘La Carta megliore ρ il Rio de las Amazones come fu scoperto et posseduto gia d'Olandese’ (f. 58r.) This was based on Hessel Gerritsz’ map in De Laet's Nieuwe Wereldt (1625).
- Cortesão , A. 1960 . Portugalia Monumento Cartographica vol. 5 , 601A Lisboa
- British Library Additional MS 3424ON. fig. 5 shows detail of Amazon river.
- So named on Tatton's chart.
- Maracá , Ilha de . 1927 . A relation of a voyage to Guiana by Robert Harcourt 1613 Edited by: Harris , C. A. and Hakluyt Society . 70 London Harcourt anchored at 2‐#fr1/2>‐°N ‘by certaine islands called Carripapoory’ which were probably the
- See fig. I. no. 4.
- Shirley , J. 1949 . ‘George Percy at Jamestown 1607–12,’ . Virginia Historical Magazine , July : 242 Percy Papers X (1611–1617), f. 220. The letter is quoted in full in
- See fig. 6 for the probable extent of the Morton and King Surveys.
- 1945 . South America Pilot Pt. I. , 9th edition 75 London
- The burthen is given in the entry in the Port Book 27.6.1614, Public Record Office E. 190/820/1.
- 1864 . South America Pilot 281 London where it is remarked that ‘the uniform aspect of the banks of the Amazons, the resemblance between all the islands . . . and the almost entire absence of objects of recognition, renders it impossible to give fixed direction for navigating this river. It will, therefore, be necessary to employ a pilot ... to prevent mistaking one channel for another.’ De Laet (1625) p. 463 indicates that the river shown on Morton's, survey south of Gurupá is not the main channel.
- Andrews , J. H. 1975 . ‘Motive and method in historical cartometry’ . (paper presented to the History of Cartography Conference . 1975 , Greenwich. The methods used to assess planimetric accuracy and their inherent problems have been widely discussed recently. See for example
- 1977 . ‘An Experiment in the comparative analysis of distortion on historical maps’ . Cartographic Journal , June : 7 – 11 . Subsequent experimental work has been done by J. C. Stone and A. M. D. Gemmel: see
- Murphy , Joan . 1978 . ‘Measures of map accuracy assessment and some early Ulster maps’ . Irish Geography , 11 : 88 – 101 .
- 1974 . ‘The Accuracy of early maps? Towards a computer‐aided method’ . Cartographic Journal , June : 48 – 52 . W. Ravenhill's various historical studies, notably his use of vector analysis in
- Tatton's chart (and the ‘King’ chart) was compared with Mapo do Brasil politico 1:2,500,000. Rio de Janeiro, 1958. 4 sh. Compare figs 2, 3 and 6.
- Schomburgk , Robert H. and Ralegh , Walter , eds. 1848 . The Discovery of the large, rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana vol. 3 , 196 London Hakluyt Society Series I,
- 1898 . Observations made at the Royal Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory at Batavia . XXI (Batavia, 1899). He concluded, on the basis of his compilation of references to magnetic variation in journals of the period, that the variation in the region of the mouth of the Amazon was about 7°E. The compass used however may have been partially corrected for the London variation of 11.1/4° easterly. It was common, as William Borough records in 1585, to offset the compass wires half a point to the East. See his edition of
- 1585 . A Discourse of the variation of the compass or magneticall needle London Sig. G. Such a chart would obviously exhibit only a slight discrepancy in comparison with a chart drawn on the basis of true North, if the variation in the particular region concerned was about 7° East
- The distortion may of course be the result of the chartmaker's mis‐interpretation of whatever sources he had at his disposal.
- A Table of latitudes of points which seem to be identifiable, compared with modern values. There are no possible points of identification in the Xingu river. The ‘King’ chart seems to exhibit the same compression of distance between Sapamo and Point Macapá. Its latitudes are of course quite erroneous.
- Schubert , H. R. 1957 . History of the British Iron and Steel Industry 318 London The author notes the use of ‘mines of steel’ for a mine producing good quality ore in 1631
- See the list of place names transcribed from the chart in Table I.
- Laet , J. De . 1625 . Nieuwe Wereldt , : 462 He refers to ‘De pertinentste Kaerte ofte ontwerpinghe van dese rieviere die wy als noch hebben können sien...” He also refers to another chart which seems to be Hessel Gerritsz's chart of the Amazon river which De Laet included in the 1625 edition of his Nieuwe Wereldt (1625). It named, according to De Laet, the places Wayecorpap, Mannetibi, and Corpappi amongst others, which are shown on Gerritsz's map. Tatton's exhibits a different set of names which are also included in De Laet's description as follows:
- If this was the case, the chart is not recorded in the Dutch West India Company Collection at the Rijksarchief (the Hague) by F. C. Wieder. In discussing the Johannes Vingboon's chart of the Amazon (dated after 1660) he identified a possible source for the Boca del Para section of the chart (Leupe 684) but remarked that another, unidentifiable, source had been used for the Canal do Norte. F. C. Wieder Monumenta Cartographica (The Hague, 1925–33). p. 111. Recent investigations (in 1977) at the Rijksarchief have not brought such a chart to light, although a later one showing the lower Amazon c. 1675 (Leupe 2153) indicates that it was copied from an earlier original not now known. A note to the place‐names reads: ‘N.B. ox desij sijn niet in de orgeneele’.
- 1909 . Dictionary of National Biography London
- At least some of the Amazon ventures were apparently set in train at Flushing. In a report dated 31 Jan. 1638 by a Dutch adventurer to the Amazon Jacob Van Reese the north channel of the Amazon is described thus: ‘Concerning this land, where the Irish and the English had their plantations, enough is known already in Flushing, where most of their expeditions were financed and fitted out’. Rijksarchief (the Hague) in the collection of Wassenaer van Rosande. I am indebted to Christopher Hibber for this translation and to my colleagues in the Map Room of the Rijksarchief for their help and advice during my visit.
- J. A. F. Bekkers: Correspondence of John Morris with Johannes de Laet 1634–49. [Assen:] 1970. Item 25A. Manuscript is at Utrecht University MS 986 f. 411.
- Williamson , J. A. 1923 . English colonies in Guiana and on the Amazon 1604–68 137 Oxford An identification of European forts in the Amazon region must be tentative. It is possible that with the aid of these, and other charts, excavations may provide more solid evidence of where the forts were
- Guedes , Max Justo . 1968 . Brasil‐Costa Norte. Cartografía portuguêsa vetustíssima , 19 66 Rio de Janeiro . Captain Guedes has made a thorough study of the chartmaking of the Portuguese of the Amazon in the period 1616–1633. See also his
- 1975 . “ ‘Ações navais contra os estrangeiros na Amazonia 1616–1633’ ” . In História naval Brasileira , vol. 1 , 589 – 616 . Rio de Janeiro . pt. 11
- Forest , E. J. De . 1914 . A Walloon Family in America . . . together with a voyage to Guiana being the Journal of Jesse de Forest and his colonists 1623–1625 223 Boston The manuscript journal which includes a map of the northern channel of the Amazon is in the collection of the British Library, Sloane MS179B
- Thomas King may have gone to the Amazon after 1618. The situation shown on the map indicates however a date before 1623 when the Portuguese destroyed the forts in the Xingu and Amazon.
- Public Record Office PROB 11/154/95. Signed 11 Feb. 1622/3.
- It is assumed that the branch of the river which bears the village name Tapio may be identifiable as the Tapajos.
- It is interesting to note the presence of swimming women in one of the river's branches—presumably the legendary Amazons.
- See table 2 for toponomy.
- J. Lorimer (1973). Chapter VII.
- Matthews , T. G. 1970 . ‘Memorial autobiografico de Bernardo O'Brien’ . Caribbean Studies , X ( i ) : 89 – 106 . Bernard O'Brien's tale (Seville, A.G.I. est. 147. caj. 5. leg. 21) has been translated into English by John Hemming who kindly gave me a copy. O'Brien records that in 1624 a Dutch ship came to the Amazon and he left Philip ‘Porzel’ in charge of the fort he had built, while he took tobacco and cotton back to Europe. On O'Brien's return in 1629 he claimed to have rebuilt the fort on land called Toherego, i.e. the Taurege.
- Wieder , F. C. 1932 . Monumenta Cartographica , vol. IV , 83 The Hague . Johannes Vingboon's atlas in the Vatican Library, vol. II. sh. 3. Reproduced in
- In view of the evident distortion however it may still be meant to indicate Adriansz's fort.
- Guedes , Max . 1968 . Brasil‐Costa Norte , : 56 pl. 13 and
- Cortesäo , A. Portugalia monumenta cartographica , 4 pl. 471. A reproduction of chart 24 in Joao Teixera I's atlas, 1630. Library of Congress, Washington, Case 9, D. 6., Deck 1
- John Scott ‘History and Description of the river Amazones’. Bodleian Library, Rawlinson MS A. 175 ff.355. Quoted in J. A. Williamson (1923) p. 68.
- Markham , C. R. , ed. 1859 . Acuña's New Discovery of the Amazons, 1639 Hakluyt Society, Series I 127 London De Laet also refers cryptically to an Englishman exploring the main river of the Amazon in the 1630 French edition of Nieuwe Wereldt p. 571
- A version of a paper presented at the VIIIth International Conference on the history of cartography, Berlin 1979. The author would like to thank Professor D. B. Quinn, Max Guedes, Joyce Lorimer, Gunther Schilder, Marcel Destombes and Tony Campbell for their generous advice.