Rare map of India, Southeast Asia and the Philippines, illustrating the travels of the earliest Jesuit Missionaries.
The map includes a key locating the earliest Jesuit Missions in the region.
The map was published to illustrate a book on the life of St. Francis Xavier.
Saint Francis Xavier, S.J. (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta, 1506 -1552), was a Navarrese-Basque Roman Catholic missionary, born in Javier, in the Kingdom of Navarre and was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a companion of St. Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits who took vows of poverty and chastity at Montmartre, Paris, in 1534.
St. Francis Xavier led an extensive mission into Asia, mainly in the Portuguese Empire of the time and was influential in evangelization work, most notably in India. He also was the first Christian missionary to venture into Japan, Borneo, the Maluku Islands, and other areas. In those areas, struggling to learn the local languages and in the face of opposition, he had less success than he had enjoyed in India. Xavier was about to extend his missionary preaching to China, but died in Shangchuan Island shortly before he could do so.
The map is quite rare on the market. This is the first time we have ever seen it offered for sale.