Forlani's first map of the World
Cartographer:
Forlani, Paolo
Date of Creation:
1562
Forlani's first map of the world, here in the second state, dated 1562. An extremely beautiful map based on Giacomo Gastaldi's world map of 1546, which was "an influential prototype. It was reduced and redrawn for the Ptolemy-Gastaldi atlas of 1548, adapted in woodcut form by Pagano in 1550 and was the source for De Jode's first world map of 1555. Throughout the 1560s a later generation of Italian engravers and publishers - Forlani, Camocio and Bertelli - produced and number of confusingly similar derivatives. (Shirley).
Forlani relies greatly on the work of Gastaldi for the essential world outline and for virtually all the geographical detail. The only major deviation from Gastaldi’s world map is in North America, where Forlani omitted the clumps of trees and inserted imaginary or reported towns and mountain ranges. The map includes several landmark firsts, including the first reference to 'Canada' and 'Saguenai' on a printed map. North America is depicted as joining Asia. The 7 Cities of Cibola (La Sete Ctia) are named, with Cipola located to the South. Of the eastern place names, only Florida survives.
Until the printing of Forlani's maps in the 1560s, the name Canada had appeared on only a few manuscript depictions of the country. The Forlani maps popularized use of the name Canada in sixteenth century Europe.