1710 Homann Map of Portugal w/ Brazil, War of the Spanish Succession

An example of Johann Baptist Homann's c. 1710 map of Portugal and Portuguese Brazil, produced for his Neuer Atlas. It reflects the Portuguese presence in South America and the kingdom's delicate position during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 - 1714).

A Closer Look

The Kingdom of Portugal is illustrated divided into its historical provinces, along with neighboring regions of Spain. Cities, towns, roads, waterways, mountains, coastal features (including Gibraltar at the bottom, extending into the border), islands, and more are traced. The ships to the west of Galicia refer to the British-Dutch victory at the Battle of Vigo Bay in 1702. The fleet further south represents the arrival of Archduke Charles in Lisbon in February-March 1704. A finely-engraved cartouche with mythological figures (Neptune, mermaids), cherubs, and the Portuguese coat of arms appears at center-left. In the lower left, an inset map details the Portuguese Empire in Brazil. A text box below the title discusses the extent of the Portuguese empire, listing colonies on four continents.

At left is a large inset map of Brazil ('Regnum Brasiliae') divided into its captaincies; these were granted to Portuguese noblemen in the years following the Portuguese conquest of the Brazilian coast to encourage migration to the New World. This system was successful in Madeira, the Azores, and other Portuguese colonies in the Atlantic, but was generally unsuccessful in Brazil. Gradually, the captaincies were returned to the Crown and, by the mid-18th century, were reorganized as provinces.).

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701 - 1714)

The War of the Spanish Succession began in 1700 when childless Spanish Habsburg King Charles II died. Rival claimants vied for the vacant throne, with the young Bourbon, Philip of Anjou (grandson of Louis XIV of France), proclaimed King of Spain on November 1, 1700. Philip's ascension threatened the balance of power in Europe, as he was also likely to become king of France, potentially unifying Europe's powerful Catholic kingdoms. As a result, the Habsburg Archduke Charles, who also had a claim to the Spanish crown, gained support from European powers wary of a Spanish-French union. Bourbon and Habsburg-aligned forces engaged in a epic drawn-out conflict across much of western Europe and the New World (Queen Anne's War). The war saw alliances shift, especially when the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I died in 1711 and was succeeded by Archduke Charles, presenting a new Habsburg threat of a European superpower.

In the Peace of Utrecht, signed in 1713, Philip was granted the Spanish crown but renounced claims to the French throne, while Charles remained the Holy Roman Emperor. The Bourbon monarchies were weakened by the conflict, losing territory in Italy and Gibraltar to the British, while the Habsburgs gained territory and strengthened their positions in Hungary and the Netherlands. Britain is generally seen as the main beneficiary of the conflict, as it was not badly impacted by the mostly-continental war. With the Dutch suffering both physical and financial costs, the door was open for Britain to become the world's dominant maritime power.

Portugal's role in the war, like Britain's, was ambiguous. Initially siding with Philip of Anjou, the Portuguese King Pedro II (r. 1683 - 1706) was persuaded to switch alliances, supporting the 1702 Habsburg-aligned 'Grand Alliance'. With the Habsburg armies tied down in Italy, the Netherlands, and Hungary, it fell to the British, Dutch, and Portuguese to attack Spain itself. They captured Madrid in 1706 and proclaimed Archduke Charles King of Spain (Charles III). Nonetheless, holding Spain was more difficult than conquering it, and with Britain securing control of the coastlines and sea lanes - its primary goal in the conflict - there was limited interest in active occupation. In some ways, these battles and alliances in Iberia presaged the much more destructive Peninsular War a century later (1807 - 1814).

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by Johann Baptist Homann for the 1710 edition of his Neuer Atlas. This was an ephemeral addition to Homann's oeuvre. However, his later maps of Portugal (lacking the Brazil inset and the fleets) were clearly influenced by it, as were comparable later maps by Seutter and Lotter. As with all Homann maps, the present work is assigned a wide range of dates in catalog listings, and not all listings with this title will correspond with the same state of the map (for example, we have seen one instance where the offshore fleets are burnished from the plate). However, maps appearing to match the present state are cataloged in the United States among the holdings of the Newberry Library, Harvard University, the University of Southern Maine, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The map is widely distributed in European collections.