1691 Coronelli Map of the Pacific Ocean w/ California as an Island and Speculative New Zealand

An exceptional 1691 nautically styled map of the Pacific Ocean by the Venetian cartographer Vincenzo Maria Coronelli. The map features much of note, including a presentation of California as an Island, an illustration of a speculative Terra de Yesso (Hokkaido), and early speculative mappings of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and New Guinea.

A Closer Look

Coronelli's map covers the Pacific from Japan to New Zealand and from New Guinea to Tiera Del Fuego and the Yucatan. It focuses on the new discoveries in the Pacific by Dutch, French, and Spanish explorers and, as such, is styled as a nautical chart with rich coastal detail.

Isola di California

Coronelli boldly presents California in insular form on the Luke Foxe model popularized in 1657 by Nicholas Sanson. Luke Foxe was an English navigator who led a 1631 expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. Although he had no luck in his hunt, his expedition lost no lives, which is a feat for early explorers in Arctic waters. The maps associated with his expedition featured a surprising illustration of California as an island. It was Foxe who is credited with introducing the curious form of northern Insular California, including the Bay of Talago, the Rio de Estiete, and the unusual peninsula extending from the mainland, Agubela de Gato. The origin of this cartography beyond Foxe remains a mystery given that Foxe himself never sailed anywhere near California.

The idea of an insular California first appeared as a work of fiction in Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo's c. 1510 romance Las Sergas de Esplandian, where he writes

Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons.

Baja California was subsequently discovered in 1533 by Fortun Ximenez, who had been sent to the area by Hernan Cortez. When Cortez himself traveled to Baja, he must have had Montalvo's novel in mind, for he immediately claimed the 'Island of California' for the Spanish King. By the late 16th and early 17th century, ample evidence had been amassed, through explorations of the region by Francisco de Ulloa, Hernando de Alarcon, and others, that California was, in fact, a peninsula. However, by this time, other factors were in play. Francis Drake had sailed north and claimed 'New Albion' (identified here on the northwest coast of California Island) near modern-day Vancouver for England. The Spanish thus needed to promote Cortez's claim on the 'Island of California' to preempt English claims on the western coast of North America. The significant influence of the Spanish crown on European cartographers caused a major resurgence of the Insular California theory. Just before this map was made, Eusebio Kino, a Jesuit missionary, traveled overland from Mexico to California, conclusively proving the peninsularity of California.

Australia, New Zealand, and Environs

Across the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania are presented in very speculative form referencing the voyages of Abel Tasman. Australia is identified as both Niew Hollandt and Nuova Hollanda. Only parts of Australia's northern shore and Carpentaria are evident. Similarly, only the southern shores of Tasmania are identified. New Zealand is even more speculative, with only its western shores mapped. Although a speculative landmass to the east of New Zealand - a remnant of Terra Australis, suggests that it might be connected. Coronelli incorrectly suggests that the islands were discovered in 1654.

Coronoelli further traces the 1616-1617 voyages of Jacob Le Maire and Willem Cornelisz Schouten around Tierra del Fuego and into the Pacific. This remarkable voyage was sponsored by the Austraalse Compagnie, an organization founded by Isaac Le Maire, Jacob's father, in an attempt to break up the VOC monopoly on the East India trade. The goal was to find new trade routes to the Far East and in this they succeeded, charting the passage around Cape Horne (named after their lost ship, the Hoorne). Nonetheless, they were politically defeated back in Holland, where the States General ruled that Austraalse Compagnie would not be permitted to trade in the Far East.

Hokkaido, Japan, and the Kurils

At the northernmost extreme of the map, we find a large landmass extending eastward towards North America labeled 'Terra de Iesso o Ieco'. While the term Yesso typically refers to Hokkaido, here identified as Yupi, Coronelli has enlarged Yesso and moved it further east to correspond to the islands discovered in 1643 by Maerten de Vries and Cornelis Jansz Coen. The Vries-Coen Expedition was launched in response to an obscure Spanish legend describing gold and silver rich islands somewhere to the east of Japan. These islands were said to be so saturated in precious metals that the tall, friendly, light-skinned inhabitants even fashioned their homes out of gold. As improbable as it may seem, the idea inspired at least two expeditions. Anthony Van Diemen, the director of the Dutch East India Company in the Indies, initiated an unsuccessful 1639 expedition under Abel Jansz Tasman and Matthijs Hendricksz Quast, and a second more successful 1643 expedition under Maerten de Vries and Cornelis Jansz Coen. It is this latter mission that most influenced the present map. The expedition followed the southeast coast of Hokkaido in a northeasterly direction, where it encountered at least two of the Kuril Islands, Kunashir and Iturop, before sailing westward, where the navigators correctly identified the forklike peninsulas of southern Sakhalin, but not the strait that separated them from Hokkaido. From there, they again sailed south into more known waters. Vries and Coen were the first Europeans to enter these waters, which were little known even to the Japanese. They made early contact with the indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido, who they noted had silver-hilted daggers. They were the first to discover the Kuril Islands, here identified as 'Terra delgi Stati' (a variant on Staten Eyland) and 'Iesso o Ieco' (more commonly Compagniesland). 'Terra delgi Stati' is a reasonable approximation of Kunashir, the westernmost of the Kuril Islands, while 'Iesso o Ieco' is, according to the convention of the period, a grossly overstated speculation on Iturop.

Title Cartouche

The elaborate title cartouche in the upper right is a fine example of the beautiful engraving typical of Coronelli. The cartouche frames the title with a scallop shell. The lower half of the shell is open to reveal the bounty of the sea, including pearls and corals. Putti support the shell and hold aloft the janiform armorial crest of the Holy Roman Empire. The map is dedicated to Cavalier Giulio Giustinian.

Publication History and Census

This map was initially issued in 1691 in the first edition of Vincenzo Coronelli's Atlante Veneto and subsequently reissued in the 1695-97 edition. There is only one known state, but a small plate crack did develop just to the right of Patagonia between the 40th and 45th south latitudes. The size of the crack can be used to determine if a particular map was an early or late strike of the plate. In the present example the crack is minimal and restricted to the border, thus suggesting an early strike.