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Description

Second Spanish edition of Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas' map of the Audiencia of Quito, from his Historia General, first published in Madrid in 1601.

This map is the earliest printed Spanish map to depict the area which is now Ecuador and Quito.

The lack of detail in the interior reflects the Spanish policy of secrecy, which precluded the dissemination of geographical knowledge, a policy strictly and apparently affectively enforced, as prior to Herrera's work, no Spanish printer made any attempt to provide meaningful detail for this region.

The first edition of Herrera's work is of the utmost rarity and the plates were never again used.  

Reference
Burden 140.