G.Gastaldi and
G.B.Ramusio
La Nuova Francia, 1556
This map appeared in Giovanni Ramusio
Navigationi et Viaggi Venice 1556
Reproduced at scale from an original in the Centre for Newfoundland Studies,
Memorial University Library St. John's
Full size as novascotia1556gastaldi.jpg ( 817 kb)
original: reproduction Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
[La Nuova Francia [New France]] [by Giacomo Gastaldi, 1556].
Shows sea monsters, people fishing off Newfoundland, and hunting in
New France.
From: Navigationi et viaggi, v.3, by Giovanni Battista Ramusio.
original: University of British Columbia Library
GIACOMO GASTALDI (Italian, ca. 1500-1565)
[New England and Eastern Canada]
From: Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Delle Navigatione et Viaggi (Venice, 1565)
Woodcut, 27.0 x 37.2 cm
Osher CollectionThis elaborate map illustrates the difficulties that European cartographers faced in using explorers' reports. Gastaldi combined the geographical images of Verrazano and Jacques Cartier. Lacking any other information, he took Cartier's furthest south in 1535 (Cape Breton) to be the same place as Verrazano's furthest north in 1524 ( Port du Refuge/ Narragansett Bay). The result was that he eliminated the entire coast from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy. The islands to the east are Newfoundland ( Terra Nvova , or Bacalaos ). The few details in the interior are derived from Native sources (e.g., Terra de Labrador and Terra de Nvrvmbega ) or are European impositions (especially La Nvova Francia/ New France).
From: University of Southern Maine
