| Summary: | 18th century Copper engraving handcolored with watercolor. Full color. Relief shown pictorially. Printed in lower left corner in cartouche: ”Totius Americae Septentrionalis et Meridionalis Novissima Representatio quam ex singulis recentium Geographorum Tabulis collecta luci publicae accommodavit Iohannes Baptista Homann Sac. Caes Maj. Geog. E Reg. Borus Societ Scientiarum membrum.” Printed in upper left corner in cartouche: “America Occidentalium Indiarum nomine vulgo celebratissima non immerite Europa Nova appelari poset. quod.” Printed along the edge of “Terra Esonis Ingonita” in the upper left corner: ”Costa Terrae Borealis incognitae detecta a Don Joanne naviganie ex China in Novam Hispaniam.” Depicts North and South America along with the West Indies. South America (America Meridio) has been divided into Amazonum Regio, Terra Magellanica, Peru, Terra Firm, Caribana Guiana, Uraguay, Chili, and Paraguay. North America (America Septentrionalis) includes Florida, Louisiana, Virginia, Nova Mexico, California, Nova Francia, Terra Labrador, Nova Britannia, and Nova Groenlandia. California is shown here as a peninsula. It is marked as part of "Terra Esonis Incognita" which is shown as stretching into the far northwestern portion of North America. The Canary Islands, Cabo Verde islands and the Azores are displayed prominently off the coast of Africa. Shows towns, rivers, mountains and forests pictorially. Contains some notes on geography and exploration. The Solomon Islands are located along the same meridian as California (Portinaro and Knirsch, 218-9). Within the title cartouche, there is a depiction of a band of natives encountering a group of European settlers. Scenes of conversion of the natives adorn the cartouche in upper left corner. Prime meridian: Teneriffe. Scale: varies. [W 190 degrees—W 10 degrees / N 70 degrees—S 60 degrees]. Johann Baptist Homann (1663-1724) was born in Kammlach. He was an engraver and mapseller. In 1702, he founded his own publishing house in Nuremberg. The maps and atlases published under his name became some of the most influential in the eighteenth century (Moreland and Bannister, 84). About 1707, he became a member of the Prussian royal Academy of Science. In 1715, he was appointed geographer to Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire. He worked as an engraver for Funek, Jacob von Sandrart and Scherer. His works include Atlas (1704), Neuer Atlas (1707), Grosser Atlas (1716) and Atlas Methodicus (1719). After his death, his son, Johann Christoph, took over the business and continued to run the publishing house. Following J. C.’s death, his heirs continued to run the publishing house as Homann Heirs, which lasted for nearly a century after its founding. Later works from the Homann Heirs include Grosser Atlas (1731, 1737), Kleiner Atlas, Poppelmayer’s Star Atlas (1742), Geographia Maior (1759) and Atlas Hommanianus (1762). (Tooley, 308). According to Eduard Van Ermen, this map illustrates a blend of "strong and weak points in geographical knowledge of the New World in the early years of the eighteenth century" (40). For instance, much of the eastern coast of North America, the entire West Indies and the South American coasts had been deftly explored, providing accurate knowledge for mapmakers as seen here. However, little was known of California or the northwestern area of North America. Ermen points out that Homann shows his "hypothesis of the California coast contour with a shadow line" (40). McLaughlin and Mayo note that California is based on Sanson's work. Tooley writes, however, that there are some additions such as the towns of S Isidoro, gigante and NS de la Guadalupe (Tooley, "California as an Island," 129). The map also shows "Fetum Anian" and "Terra Esonis Incognita" to the northwest while "Pays de Moozemleck" is towards the northeast. The title cartouche comes from De Fer's 1699 map and the cartouche in the top left is based off of Guillaume De L'Isle's Canada map (1703) (McLaughlina and Mayo, 75, entry 175). Portinaro and Knirsch note that the scale generally does not permit one to see much detail though they note that Philadelphia is labeled on the map. They also find that color is only used to distinguish nation's land claims. This map was originally published in Homann's "Atlas novus terrarium…" (1702-1750). Tooley notes that the title cartouche has been copied from De Fer's map (1699) and some description has been copied from De L'Isle's Canada map (1703) (Tooley, "California as an Island," 129; McLaughlin and Mayo, 75, entry 175). Source(s): Ermen, Eduard Van. "The United States in Old Maps and Prints. Wilmington, DE: Atomium Books, Inc., 1990. McLaughlin, Glen and Nancy H. Mayo. "The Mapping of California as an Island: An Illustrated Checklist." Saratoga, CA: California Map Society, 1995. Moreland, Carl and David Bannister. "Antique Maps: A Collector's Handbook." New York: Longman Group, Ltd., 1983. Portinaro, Pierluigi and Franco Knirsch. "The Cartography of North America 1500-1800." New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987. ---. "Chapter 3: California as an Island: A Geographic Misconception Illustrated by 100 Examples from 1625 to 1770." In "The Mapping of America." Ed. by Ronald Vere Tooley. London: Holland Press, 1985. 110-134. Tooley, Ronald Vere. "Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers." Hertfordshire: Map Collector Publications Limited, 1979.
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