One of the Earliest Maps of Brazil

RAMUSIO, G. B. [Venice, 1556/ 1606]

Brazil.  GASTALDI, G./ RAMUSIO, J.B. [Venice, 1556/ 1606] Brasil.  10 ¾ x 14 ½ inches.  Woodcut in very good condition with wide margins.                                                    

One of the first separate maps of Brazil and certainly among the most richly illustrated.   Indigenous peoples are depicted at various labors and activities, with an emphasis on the harvesting of wood, suggesting that Brazil was an abundant source for this valuable commodity.   The map is unusual in its avoidance of imagery of cannibalism – otherwise de rigeur on early maps of South America map.  In fact, at lower right is an image of a European and indigenous person engaging in apparently friendly trade.   A native habitat in which can seen a figure on a hammock can be seen at lower right.

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