L´Isles Acores

Title

L´Isles Acores

Description

Map shows the islands of the Azores.

ca. 1783

Artist

Mallet (1630-1706)

Alain Manesson Mallet (1630- 1706 ) was a French cartographer and engineer. He started his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV, became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. He also served under the King of Portugal, before returning to France, and his appointment to the court of Louis XIV. His military engineering and mathematical background led to his position teaching mathematics at court. His major publications were Description de L'Univers (1683) in 5 volumes, and Les Travaux de Mars ou l'Art de la Guerre (1684) in 3 volumes. His Description de L'Universe contains a wide variety of information, including star maps, maps of the ancient and modern world, and a synopsis of the customs, religion and government of the many nations included in his text. It has been suggested that his background as a teacher led to his being concerned with entertaining his readers. This concern manifested itself in the charming harbor scenes and rural landscapes that he included beneath his description of astronomical concepts and diagrams. Mallet himself drew most of the figures that were engraved for this book.

Historical Description

The islands are first recorded on the Portolan nautical charts of the 14th century, such as the Medici Atlas (1351) and the Atlas Catalan (1375). The Azores were officially visited and taken possession of for Portugal in 1427 by Diogo de Silves on behalf of Henry the Navigator. The Portuguese name Ilhas dos Açores ("Hawk Islands") originated, according to the official Azorean account, because of the numerous buzzards living there, which the Portuguese conquerors initially mistook for hawks. The name remained even after the error was discovered. Portuguese settlement began in the mid-15th century, first on Santa Maria Island from 1431. The Azores soon became an important base on the way to the possessions in Central and South America. Thus, Christopher Columbus visited the islands in 1493 on his way back from his first voyage of discovery.