The Indies of the Setting Sun: How Early Modern Spain Mapped the Far East as the Transpacific West

357 Pages·2020·17.593 MB·English

by  Ricardo Padrón

The Indies of the Setting Sun

The Indies of
the Setting Sun
How Early Modern Spain Mapped
the Far East as the Transpacific West
Ricardo Padrón
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2020 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
quotations in critical articles and reviews. For more information, contact the
University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2020
Printed in the United States of America
29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 45567- 9 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 68962- 3 (e- book)
DOI: https:// doi .org /10 .7208 /chicago /9780226689623 .001 .0001
The University of Chicago gratefully acknowledges the generous support
of the Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and
the Vice President for Research at the University of Virginia toward the
publication of this book.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Padrón, Ricardo, 1967– author.
Title: The Indies of the setting sun : how early modern Spain mapped the
Far East as the Transpacific West / Ricardo Padrón.
Other titles: How early modern Spain mapped the Far East as the
Transpacific West
Description: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2020. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019039266 | ISBN 9780226455679 (cloth) |
ISBN 9780226689623 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Pacific Area—Discovery and exploration. | Pacific Area—
Maps—History. | Cartography—Spain—History—16th century. | Pacific
Area—In literature. | Spain—Civilization—1516–1700. | Spain—Relations—
Pacific Area. | Pacific Area—Relations—Spain.
Classification: LCC DU65 .P285 2020 | DDC 950/.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019039266
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
Para mi Teresita

Contents
List of Figures ix
Introduction 1
1. The Map behind the Curtain 13
2. South Sea Dreams 41
3. Pacific Nightmares 75
4. Shipwrecked Ambitions 107
5. Pacific Conquests 139
6. The Location of China 167
7. The Kingdom of the Setting Sun 205
8. The Anxieties of a Paper Empire 233
Conclusion 273
Acknowledgments 281
Notes 283
Works Cited 299
Index 323

Figures
1. Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum (1570) 4
2. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, Descripción de las Yndias Ocidentales
[sic] (1601) 5
3. Martin Waldseemüller, Universalis cosmographia secundum
Ptholomaei . . . (1507) 15
4. Matteo Ricci, 坤輿萬國全圖 (1602) 17
5. Martin Waldseemüller, Carta marina navigatoria Portvgallen . . . (1516,
detail) 21
6. Alessandro Vavassore (after Caspar Vopel), Nova et Integra
Universalisque . . . (1558, detail) 22
7. Diogo Ribeiro, Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del
mundo . . . (1887) 31
8. Diego Gutiérrez and Hieronymus Cock, Americae Sive Qvartae Orbis
Partis . . . (1562) 33
9. Juan Vespucci, Totius orbis descriptio iam veterum . . . (1524) 35
10. João Teixeira Albernaz et al., Taboas geraes de toda a navegação
(1630) 36
11. Juan López de Velasco, Demarcacion y nauegaciones de Yndias
(1575) 38
12. Otto Progel (after Jorge Reinel, 1519), Carte du monde (1843) 44
13. Oronce Finé, Recens et integra orbis descriptio (1534) 46
14. Isidore of Seville, Medieval Depiction of Earth as Wheel . . . (1472) 50
15. Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius et al., Macrobii
Interpretatio In Somnium Scipionis . . . (1521) 51
16. Martin Behaim, Globe (1492, detail) 55
17. Johannes Ruysch, Universalior cogniti orbis tabula . . . (1508) 57
18. Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, (1570, detail) 71