Porto Desire.

Title

Porto Desire.

Description

Map shows Porto Desire in Patagoniea. Theodor De Bry’s Grand Voyages, an illustrated collection of accounts of the Americas, defined the early European picture of the New World.

ca. 1619

Artist

Bry, de (1528-1598)

Theodorus de Bry (1528-1598) Frankfurt a.M. Around 1570, Theodorus de Bry, a Protestant, fled religious persecution south to Strasbourg, along the west bank of the Rhine. In 1577, he moved to Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant, which was part of the Spanish Netherlands or Southern Netherlands and Low Countries of that time (16th Century), where he further developed and used his skills as a copper engraver. Between 1585 and 1588 he lived in London, where he met the geographer Richard Hakluyt and began to collect stories and illustrations of various European explorations, most notably from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues. Depiction of Spanish atrocities in the New World, as recounted by Bartolome de las Casas in Narratio Regionum indicarum per Hispanos Quosdam devastatarum verissima. In 1588, Theodorus and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt-am-Main, where he became citizen and began to plan his first publications. The most famous one is known as Les Grands Voyages, i.e., The Great Travels, or The Discovery of America. He also published the largely identical India Orientalis-series, as well as many other illustrated works on a wide range of subjects. His books were published in Latin, and were also translated into German, English and French to reach a wider reading public. The two collections of travelogues published by Theodor de Bry in Frankfurt are among the most important of the early modern period and established his reputation for posterity: He created The Arrival of Columbus in the New World in 1594. The West Indian Voyages (ed. 1590-1618) chronicled the discovery and conquest of the Americas by Europeans, while the East Indian Voyages followed the rise of Holland as a trading power in Asia around 1600. Both series appeared in German and Latin, were intended for a European audience, and were richly illustrated with copper engravings. Theodor de Bry was only able to publish six parts of his complete works. After his death, his sons Johann Theodor and Johann Israel and then Johann Theodor's son-in-law Matthäus Merian continued the work until 1634. In the end, it contained 25 parts and over 1500 copper engravings. The brothers were succeeded as engravers and publishers by Sebastian Furck.

Historical Description

Puerto Deseado (founded as Port Desire) is the capital of the Departamento Deseado in the Argentine province of Santa Cruz in Patagonia. It is located at the mouth of the Río Deseado into the Atlantic Ocean and has a fishing port. The city was founded by Thomas Cavendish in 1586 and named after his ship Port Desire. Later, the Spanish translation spread and eventually became the official name. Puerto Deseado has a disused railroad station, a library (Biblioteca Pública y Municipal "Florentino Ameghino") and two museums. The almost 32 km long port was used by Ferdinand Magellan and other early navigators. Magellan named the place "Bahía de los trabajos" in 1520, and the pirate Francis Drake anchored there on May 17, 1578 and christened the place "Bahía de las Focas". On December 17, 1586, Thomas Cavendish reached the mouth of the Río Deseado with his flagship Desiré, accompanied by the ships Hugh Gallant and Content. He named the port "Port Desire", and the headland at the entrance to the port is still called "Punta Cavendish".