A scarce 16th century map of the South Pole and the Strait of Magellan

WYTFLIET, Cornelis van.

Chica sive Patagonica et Australis Terra. 1597.
Louvain: J. Bogard, 1597. 230 x 295mm.

Faint staining.

Two maps on one sheet. The upper section shows the tip of the South American mainland, with the Strait of Magellan separating it from 'Terra Incognita', the mythical Great Southern Continent. The lower shows the Southern Hemisphere, with the South Pole and the Terra Australis, with promontories reaching towards Africa, Java and New Guinea.
Wytfliet's 'Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum', describing those parts of the world unknown to Ptolemy, had a world map and eighteen map of regions of America. Philip Burden, in his Mapping of North America, writes 'this book can be truly called the first atlas of America'.

SCHILDER: p.18-19, fig. 6; CLANCY: map 8.2. See Burden 100.
Stock ID : 23439