A Special Collections Exhibition
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Mapping the New World |
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Facsimile
of a map of South America from Jean Rotz, “The boke of Ydrography,” c. 1541
(UTA)
The
influence of the portolan charts was strongly felt in the early cartography of
the New World. This is a page from a world atlas (now preserved at The British
Library) by Jean Rotz,
who was a member of the celebrated Dieppe school of chartmakers, this
flourished between about 1540 and 1560. Rotz compiled this atlas when he was
seeking employment with Henry VIII of England, and this south-oriented image of
Brazil consequently has details in English: “the river of Plate” and so
forth.
Our detail shows why the French were interested in Brazil; it was there
that they found the braziletto-wood that they took to the dyers of Rouen for
coloring beautiful red cloth.
© Special Collections Division
The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
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