Mapping the world: André Homem's cartography (1559) and the world map practice in the 16th century

• Grant number: 21/04050-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Modern and Contemporary History
• Principal Investigator: Denise Aparecida Soares de Moura
• Grantee: Aline dos Santos Franco de Camargo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 22/04311-0 - Mapping the world: the cartography of André Homem (1559) and the practice of maps mundi in the 16th century, BE.EP.MS

Abstract

This is a research project on the cartography of the New World by André Homem, one of the least known cartographers in the history of Portuguese Cartography in the 16th century. His 1559 world map is cited as one of the main ones of the period, however, several unanswered questions still surround him, as well as about his own author. What would be the genre of this cartographic image? Does it combine more than one genre? How was the New World space designed compared to the Old World? For whom was it produced, for what purpose and how to explain it in the light of the geopolitical interests of the European Courts in relation to the navigation of the Atlantic and the space of America in the sixteenth century? What is the repercussion of other European world maps on this map, in view of the transit of its author to other parts of Europe, especially France? To what extent has this map reproduced or innovated in relation to the Portuguese world map tradition? To what extent did it influence other European cartographers who also produced world maps in the 16th century? The study of this world map in an intertextual perspective, relating it to other maps and texts of the time will allow us to understand whether or not there was a European or Portuguese standard of visual representation of the world and the New World in this period. In general, the study of world maps takes place in a monographic way. This research will be conducted with theoretical and methodological contributions from the social and critical history of cartography. (AU)