• Title : Peru
• Date : 1639
• Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
• Ref:  70709
• Size: 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)

Description:
This fine, beautifully hand coloured original antique and very important map of Peru, South America by Jan Jansson was published in the 1639 French edition of Gerard Mercators Atlantis Novi Atlas.

General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 24in x 20in (610mm x 510mm)
Plate size: - 19 1/2in x 15in (495mm x 390mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - Light age toning
Verso: - Light age toning

Background:
Jansson in this map shows the Pacific coast of South America from Ecuador - at the left hand side - as far south as the Atacama desert in the northern reaches of Chile.
Although the interior terrain is not mapped with any particular degree of accuracy, this map nevertheless conveys a vivid impression of the difficult terrain of the Andes in Peru.
As early as 1520, Spanish settlers in Panama had heard tales of a powerful civilisation rich in gold that lay to the south, and in 1522 an expedition was organised to find this land and the people called Biru or Piru in the south. In 1524 Francisco Pizarro led the first of his expeditions that led ultimately to the discovery & conquest of the Inca Empire which extended over wide areas of modern Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and part of Chile. Pizarro obtained from Atahuallpa, the head of the Inca Empire, a huge ransom of silver and gold that made Spain rich almost beyond the most inventive dreams of the Spanish conquerors, and once the mountain city of Cuzco was captured in 1533, the Spanish hold over much of South America was virtually complete.
A beautiful map with a fine impression on clean heavy paper with beautiful hand colouring. (Ref: Tooley, Koeman)