Historic Map : Pinkerton Map of Northeastern South America (Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam), 1818, Vintage Wall Art

This is a stunning, highly detailed, and extremely interesting map of northeastern South America. Covers the modern day countries of Venezuela, British Guyana, French Guyana, Surinam and parts of Brazil. Pinkerton offers impressive detail throughout noting indigenous groups, missions, towns and cities, swamps, mountains, and river systems. Upper right hand quadrant features the title plate and two distance scales, one in British Miles and the other in Spanish Leagues. Cartographically speaking this is an often neglected part of the world - especially in the early 19th century. Though the coastlands had been well mapped early in the 16th century, the interior was rarely penetrated. The combination of mountainous terrain, daunting jungles, malaria, and unfriendly indigenous groups combine to make this area all but unexplorable - even today. Nonetheless, Pinkerton make a commendable attempt to piece together early conquistador accounts, explorer's journals, missionary records, and indigenous reports into a coherent mapping of the area. Probably the most interesting aspect of this map is Pinkerton's treatment of the apocryphal Lake Parima. Lake Parima was first identified by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 16th century - though he admittedly never saw the lake himself. He offers duly noted speculative courses for the Orinoco, the Maroni and the Rio Negro, among others. He also notes the sites of various battles and the bases of rebels and escaped slaves. Drawn by L. Herbert and engraved by Samuel Neele under the direction of John Pinkerton. This map comes from the scarce American edition of Pinkerton's Modern Atlas, published by Thomas Dobson & Co. of Philadelphia in 1818.