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Summary

Johannes Dörflinger:

Contributions by Jesuit missionaries from Austria to cartographic development in America

Cartographica Helvetica 28 (2003) 3–11

Summary:

From about 1680 to 1767 a number of Jesuit missionaries from Austria (the Habsburg territories in Central Europe) were active in Latin America, and several of them produced significant cartographic accomplishments.

Based on numerous journeys, Eusebio Francisco Kino from Trentino designed a map of northwestern Mexico (published for the first time in 1705 in France), which, after several decades, again showed Baja California as a peninsula (instead of a large island). The journey by Ferdinand Konsag (1746) from Croatia finally proved the true character of Baja California, and his map, published in 1757, dispersed any remaining doubts on this subject.

The first passable map representing the Amazon was created in 1691 and the following years by Samuel Fritz from German Bohemia, who knew practically the entire river from his own traveling experiences. First published in Quito in 1707, the Fritz map became commonly known after a reprint in France (1717) and served as a basis for cartographic representations up until the publication of the Amazon map by Charles-Marie de la Condamine in 1745.


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