1519 Spanish pilot's manual by Enciso
Suma de Geographia (Spanish: "Suma de Geografía"; lit. 'sum of geography') is a Spanish book on cosmography, geography, and maritime navigation written by Martín Fernández de Enciso and published in 1519 in Seville. "Suma" is deemed the first pilot's manual to comprehensively describe the New World as then understood by the Spanish and Portuguese. It is further noted as the first appearance in print of the Spanish "requerimiento", and as a seminal work in Spanish navigational guides of the period.
Background.
Martín Fernández de Enciso is thought to have begun writing his "Suma de Geographia" in Spain by at least 1518. Enciso was granted a printing patent for "Suma" in Zaragoza on 5 September 1518. The work was first published in Seville in mid-to-late 1519 by Jacobo Cromberger. A revised edition was published in Seville in 1530 by Juan Cromberger, and later first reprinted posthumously in Seville in 1546 by Andrés de Burgos. A partial English edition, "A briefe description of the weast India", was first published in London in 1578 by Henry Bynneman.
Contents.
"Suma" is deemed to consist of two parts, a cosmographical (cum nautical), and a geographical one, in that order. The cosmographical treatise expounds on the configuration and functioning of the (Ptolemaic, geocentric) universe, and further provides practical guidance on maritime navigation. The geographical discourse presents select human and physical features of the Old and (known) New Worlds, as split by the Tordesillas meridian through El Hierro.
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Legacy.
"Suma" has been deemed the first pilot's manual in Spanish, and the first such for the New World. It is further noted as the first print book to include the Spanish "requerimiento". It is thought to have been particularly influential for later Spanish works on maritime navigation.
Notes and references.
Explanatory footnotes.
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Short citations.
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Full citations.
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