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The Voyage of Pedro Arias D'Avila To Darien in 1514
Striking regional map of the Caribbean, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and part of South America.
The map was used to illustrate the Dutch translations of the account of the voyage of Pedro Arias D'Avila.
D'Avila was a Spanish knight from Segovia. In 1514, at the age of nearly seventy years he was made commander of the largest Spanish expedition ever sent to America, and reached Santa Marta in Colombia with 19 vessels and 1,500 men. He then proceeded to Darien, where the discoverer of the South Sea, Balboa, governed. Pedrarias superseded him, gave Balboa his daughter in wedlock, and later had Balboa murdered. In 1519 he founded the Panama City. He was a party to the original agreement with Pizarro and Almagro which brought about the discovery of Peru, but sold his interest in 1526, after losing confidence in the venture.
Vander Aa was one of the most prolific compilers of information on the early explorations to America, Asia and Africa. In total, the work reached 130 narratives, which were offered in 28 8vo volumes.
A finely executed copper plate engraving with decorative cartouche.
Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733) was a Dutch mapmaker and publisher who printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated books, but is best known for his voluminous output of maps and atlases. Van der Aa was born to a German stonecutter from Holstein. Interestingly, all three van der Aa sons came to be involved in the printing business. Hildebrand was a copper engraver and Boudewyn was a printer.
![America [Manuscript Map Showing the Sea of the West!]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/41297dm.jpg)
