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Valentim Fernandes' Five Maps and the Early History and Geography of São Tomé

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Andreas Massing
Andreas Massing*
Affiliation:
Frankfurt
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Extract

Maps may be important historical documents, reflecting the situation of a given place at a given time, and comparing several maps from different periods of the same area can inform us of changes in social and human geography. For some distant parts of the world they may be the only sources for a past that provides us with few if any sources. Thus Valentim Fernandes' five maps of São Tomé are a unique source for the slow and gradual growth of the first settlements. The maps are complemented by Fernandes' 1506 description of the island.

Valentim Fernandes, a German printer who worked in Lisbon from 1495 to 1513, compiled several works on Africa and published them in 1506. Apparently he sent a copy to his friend Conrad Peutinger in Augsburg, whose book collection came into possession of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, where they survive in the Codex Hispanicus 27 (now available online. The compilation contains several texts and a map collection with description of the Atlantic islands. While Fernandes' description of Africa, as the sole copy of Diogo Gomes' account, has received wide attention as an important source for early African history, the five maps of São Tomé inserted at various places in the Codex have hardly received any attention at all.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 36 , 2009 , pp. 367 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2009

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References

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