Carta Esférica de las Yslas Baleares y pithyusas

Title

Carta Esférica de las Yslas Baleares y pithyusas

Description

Map shows Spanish islands Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza and a title cartouche.

c. 1786

Artist

Tofiño de San Miguel (1732-1795)

Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel and Wanderiales (1732 - 1795 Cadiz) was a Spanish navigator and cosmographer. He studied experimental physics and then joined the army, which he subsequently left. In 1755, Jorge Juan asked Tofiño to join the faculty of the Academy of Marines in Cadiz (Academia de Guardia Marinas de Cádiz) as a mathematics teacher, and allowed Tofiño to join the Armada as a second lieutenant (alférez de navío). In 1768, Tofiño was appointed director of the Academy, and in 1773, director of the Academies of Ferrol and Cartagena. He participated in the expeditions against Algiers (1773) and the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1782). He received the rank of brigadier of the Armada in 1784 and the rank of rear admiral in 1789. Tofiño went to sea and the result was several works, including: Derrotero de las costas de España en el mar Mediterráneo y África (1787) (colección de cartas esféricas de las costas de Espana y Africa ... (1788), a collection of nautical charts of the coasts of Spain and Africa Likewise: Derrotero de las costas de España and El Océano Atlántico y de las islas Azores o Terceras , para inteligencia y uso de las cartas esfericas (1789), a pilot log of the coasts of Spain in the Atlantic and the Azores for the use of naval intelligence and nautical charts.

Historical Description

The indigenous population of the Balearic Islands probably immigrated from the Iberian Peninsula or today's southern France. In ancient times, the islands were called Balearides or Gymnesiae, which meant the islands of Mallorca (Balearis major) and Menorca (Balearis minor). At first they were dependent on the Phoenicians. Mallorca and Ibiza were conquered in 1229 and 1235 respectively by Jacob I of Aragon (Catalan Jaume I), Menorca by his descendant Alfonso III. The Balearic Islands, like Catalonia, now belonged to the Aragon Crown. At times, together with parts of Catalonia, they formed an independent state, the Kingdom of Mallorca, ruled by a branch of the Aragonese royal family. In 1708 Maó was conquered by the British. The Peace of Utrecht (1713), which ended the War of Spanish Succession, gave Menorca to the British Empire. This had to return the island to Spain in the Treaty of Versailles (1783), but remained British until 1802. The Spanish province of the Balearic Islands was founded in 1833.