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First state of this rare large Spanish nautical chart, published in 1806, presents the southeastern Mediterranean and Aegean Seas in exacting detail, extending from the Libyan coast and the island of Crete in the south to the Sea of Marmara and Constantinople in the north.

The chart was prepared for the Spanish Hydrographical Department under the direction of Dionisio Alcalá Galiano (1760–1805), a distinguished Spanish naval officer and hydrographer, based on his surveys conducted aboard the frigate Soledad. This chart forms part of a broader effort to modernize Spanish maritime cartography in the early 19th century. 

The principal area of focus includes the Greek Archipelago (comprising the Cyclades, Dodecanese, and Sporades), the Aegean and southern Ionian seas, the Turkish coastline of Caramania (modern southern Anatolia), and the northern Mediterranean littoral of Africa, labelled here as the Desierto de Barca. Also represented is the island of Cyprus (Isla de Chipre) and portions of the Nile Delta (Roseta, Damieta, and Alexandría).

The chart employs rhumb lines (loxodromes) radiating from numerous compass roses to aid in maritime navigation, a standard feature of late 18th- and early 19th-century nautical cartography. Prominent coastal features, islands, anchorages, and channels are depicted, while terrestrial interiors are intentionally omitted in keeping with the chart's maritime function. Two inset plans are included:

• Plano Geométrico de Pto. Mandri en la Grecia (surveyed in 1803) — a small, protected harbor in eastern Greece, carefully delineated with depth soundings and coastal detail.
• Plano Geométrico del Puerto de San Nicolas en la Isla de Zea (surveyed in 1790) — showing the anchorage on the northwest coast of the Cycladic Island of Kea (Zea), vital for shipping routes between the Peloponnese and the Cyclades.

At lower right, a detailed Noticia de los Puntos de esta Carta cuya Posición se Asegura lists the latitudes and longitudes of verified points, primarily along coasts and capes, with a disclaimer noting that few of the Aegean islands had been subjected to geodetic observation.  

Dionisio Alcalá Galiano was a central figure in the Spanish Enlightenment's scientific maritime enterprise. A protégé of Malaspina, Galiano had previously circumnavigated the globe and conducted groundbreaking surveys of the Pacific Northwest.