A map of Mexico

Copperplate map of Mexico from 1598 by Cornelius van Wytfleet, from his work "Descriptionis Ptolemaicae augmentum ...", which is the first independent atlas of America. Despite being one of the fundamental works in the history of cartography, his maps are relatively poor in toponymy, even in the context of the time in which they were made, and "Hispania Nova" is no exception. The terrain is marked by the hill method in some places, and the river network is only elaborated thoroughly along the west coast. The accompanying text in the atlas mentions, for example, Hernán Cortés, Moctezuma and Tenochtitlán. Localities such as Culiacan or New Galicia are described in more detail.