Sanches World Map 1623

This world map, or planisphere, by Antonio Sanches of 1623 is one of the most colourful products of Portuguese mapmaking . It was meant for display and not for practical use, advertising his patron’s Christian piety, wealth and power. As mentioned on the map, this was Domingos Martins d’Orta, of whom nothing is known other than his membership of a very wealthy family that was heavily involved in trade with Spanish America and the Philippines. Dominated by Portuguese and Christian (Catholic) imagery, their national banners and coats-of-arms are scattered across the continents and oceans, suggesting their suzerainty over Asia, Africa and South America. Little is known about Sanches himself, but it is thought he may have belonged to a family of chartmakers, which by the 1590s had established itself in Lisbon.