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Copperplate engraving.

Pictorial relief.

Paolo Forlani's rare and finely engraved map of North America which is the earliest printed map devoted solely to North America, the first to portray that landmass as a separate continent and the first to show the so-called Strait of Anian separating America from Asia at the approximate location of the Bering Strait. Forlani based his rendering largely on the western part of a world map published by his colleague, the great Venetian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi, several years before. Gastaldi had been the first to formulate the concept of the Strait of Anian, a name that probably originated with Ania, a Chinese province mentioned in a 1559 edition of Marco Polo's travels. Forlani's early graphic depiction of Gastaldi's mistaken theory, which persisted well into the eighteenth century, makes this map a cornerstone work in the mapping of America. In the early 1560s, Forlani also published a map of South America and the West Indies, La descrittione de tutto il Peru

This copy appears to be state 1 as described in Burden and based on the fact that the map does not contain a publishers imprint.

Custodial history

Part of the Alexander E. MacDonald Canadiana Collection purchased by the Public Archives of Canada in 1981.

Related materials

For other states of this map see: Mikan 188376 ; Mikan 3951458 (NMC 22900) ; Mikan 3974085 (NMC 6577)

Cartographic math data

Scale indeterminate.

Citation / reference note

Burden, Entry 33, State 1, 1565.
Woodward, David. The maps and prints of Paolo Forlani : a descriptive bibliography, 1990.
Shirley, Rodney W. The mapping of the world. London : Holland Press, 1983, 106
Goss, John " The Mappong of North America: Three centuries of map-making 1500-1860", Entry 10

Availability of other formats note

The microfiche version is NMC 22901.

Exhibitions note

"Plotting the Land of Ontario, 1564-1919" A Joint exhibit by the Canadiana Department, R.O.M. ; MacDonald Ophthalmic Foundation ; Ontario Department of Public Records and Archives to Coincide with the 5th Annual Conference of the Association of Canadian Map Libraries, held at Torotonto, May 26-28, 1971.