Engraving of 560x490 mm. Contemporary coloring. Margins. Little tear on bottom. Nice copy.
Beautiful map in contemporary coloring depicting Portugal and a part of Spain, while a large insert depicts the Portuguese colonial area in Brazil. The cartouche with Poseidon, Mermaid, cherubs and the Portuguese flag above it is splendid. The two most powerful fleets at the time of Charles III of Spain, the Portuguese and the English, are depicted in the Atlantic Ocean.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the world's major economic, political and military powers. During this period, today referred to as the Age of Discovery, Portuguese explorers pioneered maritime exploration, notably under royal patronage of Prince Henry the Navigator and King John II, with such notable voyages as Bartolomeu Dias' sailing beyond the Cape of Good Hope (1488), Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route to India (1497–98) and the European discovery of Brazil (1500).