An attractive and detailed map of the Amazon River basin and northern South America, extending from the Pacific coast of Peru and the eastern slopes of the Andes to the Atlantic coast of Brazil and the Guianas. 

The mighty Amazon River dominates the composition, flowing from its presumed sources in the Andean highlands across the South American continent to its enormous estuary on the Atlantic coast. Numerous tributaries are carefully delineated and named, forming an intricate hydrographic network that reflects growing European interest in the region's geography.

The map covers a vast territory encompassing parts of present-day Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil and the Guianas. The Andes are prominently represented by extensive chains of individually engraved mountains, while the great tropical lowlands are traversed by an elaborate system of rivers.

Particularly interesting is the depiction of Lago di Parime, the legendary lake traditionally associated with the mythical golden city of El Dorado. Situated in the northern interior of South America, this imaginary geographical feature appeared on numerous European maps from the late sixteenth century onwards. Its inclusion illustrates the persistence of geographical myths alongside increasingly accurate information obtained through exploration and missionary activity.

The map also records numerous indigenous place names, settlements and geographical features, reflecting the information available to European cartographers through Spanish and Portuguese colonial sources, missionaries and travellers. Small pictorial scenes enliven the interior, depicting indigenous inhabitants and showing cannibals preparing human bodies for eating. These details provide a fascinating insight into contemporary European perceptions of the largely unexplored Amazonian region.

 The map is dedicated to Alessandro de Verazzano, a Florentine nobleman.

Vincenzo Coronelli   (1650-1718)

Vincenzo Coronelli was born in Venice on 16 August 1650 and primarily brought up in Ravenna. He returned to Venice in 1665 and joined the convent of the Minor Conventuals. Five years later, he was sent to Rome to study, and by 1673, he was already a doctor of theology. 

Having achieved fame by constructing two globes for the Duke of Parma, he was invited to Paris for three years in 1681 and made two enormous examples for Louis XIV. On his return to Venice, he assiduously collected cartographic material and founded the Academy of the Argonauts. In 1685, he was appointed Cosmographer to the Republic of Venice and authorised to publish a large atlas. He became a geography lecturer at the University of Venice and brought out an Atlante Veneto the following year.

In 1696, he visited Germany, Holland and southern England. During intervals in compiling his vast encyclopaedia, he continued with cartographic projects up to 1709. He died in his native Venice on 9 December 1718.

Coronelli became famous for his globes. In addition, he was a renowned encyclopaedist, mapmaker and geographer. Most of his maps and other material are gathered in his Atlante Veneto (13 vols, 1690-1705). The first volume, subtitled Descrizione generale istorica geografica, was his masterpiece, planned as an extension of Blaeu’s atlas.

Other volumes of the atlas which contain maps are Isolario, two parts (1696-8), with detailed maps and plans, mostly of islands; Corso geografico, two parts based on the edition 1694-7; Libro de’ globi (1697); and Lo Specchio del Mare, a reprint of Levanto's Lo Specchio del Mare Mediterraneo of 1664.

The other vital aspects of his mapping are those arising from the Venetian conquest and his travels. His most extensive military compilation was the Teatro della Guerra, in more than 30 volumes.