THE IDENTITY OF "FLORIDA" ON THE 

 CANTINO MAP OF 1502 



The Problem Stated 



It was long supposed that Ponce de Leon was the 

 discoverer of Florida. More recently, however, the 

 study of the Cantino, Canerio, and 1507 Waldsee- 

 miiller maps,^ all antedating Ponce's discovery of 

 1 5 13, has led many scholars to place the honor of 



1 The standard reproductions of these maps are as follows: 

 (i) the Cantino by E. L. Stevenson: Maps Illustrating Early Dis- 

 covery and Exploration in America, 1 502-1 530, Reproduced by Photog- 

 raphy from the Original Manuscripts, text and 12 portfolios, New 

 Brunswick, N. J., 1903-06, map in Portfolio i (the western, Atlantic, half 

 of the map has also been reproduced from a tracing by lithography in 

 the original colors and accompanies in a separate pocket Henry Harrisse: 

 Les Corte-Real et leurs voyages au Nouveau-Monde d'apres des docu- 

 ments nouveaux ou pen connus tires des archives de Lisbonne et de 

 Modene. Paris. 1883, in series: Recueil de Voyages et de Documents 

 Pour Servir a I'Histoire de la Geographic, edit, by C. Schafer and A. 

 Cordier) ; 



(2) the Canerio by E. L. Stevenson: Marine World Chart of Nicolo 

 de Canerio Januensis, 1502 (circa): A Critical Study With Facsimile 

 (text, 1908, and facsimile in portfolio, 1907), Amer. Geogr. Soc. and 

 Hispanic Soc. of America, New York, 1907-08; 



(3) the Waldseemiiller by Joseph Fischer and F. R. von Wieser: The 

 Oldest Map With the Name America of the Year 1507 and the Carta 

 Marina of the Year 1516 by M. Waldseemiiller (Ilacomilus), text in 

 English and German and facsimile of both maps, Innsbruck, 1903. 



The same feature appears on maps for years afterwards, such as the 

 following (cf. Harrisse, work cited in next footnote, pp. 371-372): 



Waldseemiiller gores, 1507 (Fischer and von Wieser, op. cit., p. 14). 



Mappemonde of Glareanus, 1510 (A. E. Nordenskiold: Periplus: An 

 Essay on the Early History of Charts and Sailing-Directions 

 transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm, 1897, p. 173). 



