|
||
|
|
|
|
This copper-engraved sea chart depicts the captaincy of Paraíba on Brazil’s northeast coast at the end of the 1600s. It was engraved by Antonio Horacio Andreas for the lavish history of the Dutch-Portuguese wars compiled by the Carmelite friar João José de Santa Teresa and printed by Giacomo Giovanni Rossi.
Oriented with west at the top, the shoreline runs across the bottom edge. Deeply indented estuaries, including the Rio Paraíba, Rio Guaju, Rio Mamanguape, and others, are traced inland, revealing the waterways that fed Paraíba’s sugar trade.
Dozens of small symbols mark “engenhos” (sugar mills), villages, and parish churches strung along the rivers. The fortified colonial seat, Nossa Senhora das Neves (modern João Pessoa), appears near the mouth of the Rio Paraíba. Dashed lines hint at early roads linking interior plantations to the coast. Neighboring captaincies—Itamaracá to the west and Rio Grande to the east—are named along the borders.
Two winged putti dominate the corners: one hoists the Portuguese royal coat of arms (upper left), the other unfurls a ribbon title cartouche (upper right). At lower left, sea monsters cradle a scallop-shell distance scale, while curling scrollwork frames a brief legend.
Created just after Portugal had re-asserted control over its northern sugar provinces, the chart doubles as a practical coastal guide and a visual statement of restored sovereignty. Its detailed engraving captures the economic geography of Paraíba, plantations, mills, and river transport routes, at a moment when sugar profits underwrote much of the colony’s recovery.
