The Depiction of Cuba on the Ruysch World Map (original) (raw)

The Mystery of Cuba on the Ruysch World Map

The Ruysch world mapl is found in the Ptolemy Atlas of 1508.. Its author, Johan Ruysch, was a highly regarded cartographer who sailed to the northern aspects of the New World with an English expedition some time prior to 1507.3 The map itself is marvelously accurate for its time. The appearance of the Caribbean Sea on this map has puzzled cartographic historians since 1526. Indeed, John Boyd Thacher comments specifically on this point; "The mystery of this map-and every early map boasted its mystery-is the absence of the island of Cuba from its place in the Caribbean Sea. Where Cuba should be placed there is instead a triangular-shaped landmass, unexplored to the west. The configuration of this landmass is very similar, but smaller in. scale, to a landmass on the Cantino6 and Canerio world planispheres of 1502 and c. 1504. Some researchers have identified this landmass as the southeast coast of North America. Others have identified it as representing Columbus' Cuba.By dispelling several myths regarding the above-mentioned maps it will be argued that Ruysch used this outline on his map to represent Cuba, and he did this because he discovered or concluded that the large triangular-shaped landmass on these Portuguese planispheres depicted the land of Cuba which Columbus explored during his first two voyages

Interrelationship of the terranes in western and central Cuba—Comment

Tectonophysics, 1994

The present tectonic position and stratigraphy of the Sierra de 10s Organos and the Sierra de1 Rosario sequences in the Cordillera de Guaniguanico in Cuba (Fig. 1) is well known as a result of the geological mapping of the Pinar de1 Rio Province (Pszczolkowski et al., 1975). These data became the base for various tectonic and geodynamic interpretations of the western part of Cuba (for example, Mo~akowski et al., 1987; Puscharowski et al., 1989) **. The paper by K. Piotrowska (1993) is the latest attempt at explaining the paleotectonic history of some tectonic units (terranes) in the Pinar de1 Rio Province. I do not agree with some conclusions presented in this paper. Piotrowska (1993) states that all tectonic units of the Sierra de 10s Organos terrane in the Pinar de1 Rio Province (the metamorphosed units, the Mogote zone, Pizarras de1 Sur and Pizarras de1 Norte) are thrust over the 'Zaza zone' and the sequence of the ~orida-Bahamas (Piotrowska, *Editor's note: A reply to this paper was invited but unfortunately not received. It was therefore decided to publish the comment without the customary reply.

16THE Interpretation of Caribbean Paleogeography

La hipòtesi de GAARlàndia (Iturralde-Vinent & MacPhee, 1999) especifica que una llengua de terra, capaç d'actuar com a via de dispersió per a organismes terrestres, va connectar les futures Antilles Majors amb la vorera del nord-oest de Sud Amèrica durant un període curt cap a la transició Eocè/Oligocè. Hedges (2001) ha criticat aquesta hipòtesi sota diferents prismes, i a aquest treball tractam de replicar algunes de les seves objeccions, tenint en compte l'evidència més recent que tenim sobre les següents tres qüestions: (1) Quant ha durat la presència dels ambients terrestres actuals de la conca del Carib? (2) Quines han estat les dates d'emergència més probables per a les illes que tenen aquests ambients? (3) Quin efecte tenen les corrents de superfície marines sobre la distribució dels objectes que suren a l'àrea del Carib? Primer, en contra del que diu Hedges, encara no hi ha evidència geològica per a donar suport a una continuïtat als ambients terrestres del Carib abans de fa 37 Ma. A llavors, la pretensió d'Hedges que com a mínim algunes entitats biòtiques haurien persistit in situ per períodes de més de 37 Ma (la data més primerenca suportada per tal evidència), com a mínim a algunes de les illes actuals, encara no es pot mantenir sobre bases geològiques. Segon, l'esdeveniment d'importància decisiva en l'emergència de GAARlàndia no fou la baixada del nivell eustàtic de la mar, sinó l'aixecament d'un arc insular tot seguint el final de la seva fase magmàtica. A llavors, notar, com Hedges fa, que l'emergència de GAARlàndia no va estar correlacionada amb una baixada identificable principal -encara que fos correcte-no és pertinent al problema plantejat. Ni ho són les incerteses de les datacions, tant de les baixades com de l'esdeveniment d'aixecament. Finalment, encara que el moviment de les corrents de superfície marines està afectat per la força de Coriolis, el vent és molt més important per al moviment dels objectes sobre la superfície. Experiments reals revelen que aquests moviments són significativament caòtics, cosa que condueix a que el transport passiu virtualment mai esdevindrà en línia recta. Com a resultat, encara que els objectes transportats pels rius de Sud Amèrica eventualment poden embarrancar a les costes del Carib, els temps de trànsit són probablement llargs. Aquest fet, tal volta més que qualsevol altre, condueix a que les llargues estades a la mar siguin un mètode improbable de dispersió exitosa per a moltes castes d'organismes. Òbviament, les investigacions geològiques i paleontològiques no poden falsar escenaris històrics, però poden subministrar termini ad quem per precisament el tipus d'esdeveniments en que els biogeògrafs insulars haurien d'estar interessats, tals com quan apareixen per primera vegada a una àrea ambients desitjables per organismes terrestres, i quins organismes (representats per les seves restes) eren els primers en disposar de l'avantatge d'aquestes noves terres.

Island of Cuba-Humboldt

OOl'lTEI.'C m. BaiabaDcS-Comparatln territorial power-Geologloal c:htnctIIr -Monntalna-Face of the cOIlDUy-Elevation-Noted hill&-EIIItern portlOl1-Gold-W1IIlhing-Formation or western and central portion-Giiiuea-SoU-HilllI of San J uan--eavert1&-Modem formatlon-8hore at Havana-Roaring banD explained-Relative age of atrata-Freah wrJer on the O&ye-Origin-Vicinlt,' of Havana -Guanabacoa -Serpentine -Petrolenm -Botany 01 Guanabacoa-Mineral eprinp-Reftectlona on geology -Earth-qnakelJ-Ferlile lanch-Beanty of vegetation-Soila, how diatin-gnWled-Rlv~prinp-Landanear Havana. [Non.-Imperfect atate or geological knowledge in Cuba-Known metal and mineral prodnctionll-Coal analyzed-Oelebrated mineral epriup

The Representation of the West Indies in Early Iberian Cartography: A Cartometric Approach

Terrae Incognitae, 2015

The earliest extant cartographic representation of the Americas is on the 1500 planisphere by the Cantabrian pilot Juan de la Cosa. On this nautical chart, the New World is represented according to the information collected by Spanish, English and Portuguese explorers in the last years of the fifteenth century. One of its most striking features is the large size of the Antilles, which are represented with a remarkably exaggerated scale relative to Europe. This feature was later replicated in the Cantino (1502), the Caverio (c. 1504) and many other planispheres of the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In this article, the results of a cartometric analysis of a sample of nautical charts, from 1500 to 1525, are presented and discussed with the aim to better understand how the representation of the Caribbean Sea evolved over time. The analysis has shown that the earliest charts in which the mistake in proportion was fully corrected are the Castiglione and the Salviati planispheres of 1525, both produced by the Casa de Contratación of Seville. It is further concluded that the Spanish cartographic production of the Casa was the object of a considerable improvement, in quantity and quality, as a result of the Magellan-Elcano circumnavigation of 1519–22. This was made possible by the technical assistance of Portuguese cartographers and pilots during the preparation and execution of the voyage.