Diogo Ribeiro

Diogo Ribeiro (d. 16 August 1533) was a Portuguese cartographer and explorer who worked most of his life in Spain where he was known as Diego Ribero. He worked on the official maps of the ''Padrón Real'' (or ''Padrón General'') from 1518 to 1532. He also made navigation instruments, including astrolabes and quadrants.

Early life

Born as Diogo Ribeiro, he was the son of Afonso Ribeiro and Beatriz d’Oliveira. However, there is no known record of the date and place of his birth. He is believed to have become a seaman at an early age and made several voyages to India as a ship pilot. Reportedly, Ribeiro sailed with Pedro Afonso de Aguiar who served as captain in the armadas of the explorers Vasco da Gama (1502), Lopo Soares (1504), and Afonso de Albuquerque (1509).

Career

By 1516, Diogo Ribeiro and other several Portuguese navigators and cartographers, conflicting with King Manuel I of Portugal, gathered in Seville to serve the newly crowned Charles V of Spain. Among them were explorers and cartographers Diogo and Duarte Barbosa, Estêvão Gomes, João Serrão, Ferdinand Magellan and Jorge Reinel, cosmographers Francisco and Ruy Faleiro and the Flemish merchant Christopher de Haro. Ribeiro started working for Charles I (and V of the Holy Roman Empire) in 1518, as a cartographer at the ''Casa de Contratación'' in Seville. Ferdinand Magellan took part in the development of the maps used in the first circumnavigation of the Earth.

On January 10, 1523, he was named Royal Cosmographer and "master in the art of creating maps, astrolabes, and other instruments". He eventually succeeded Sebastian Cabot (who left on a voyage) as the head cartographer. Cabot published his first map in 1544.

In 1524, Ribeiro participated in the Castilian (''Spanish'') delegation at the Conference of Badajoz, where Castile (''Spain'') and Portugal discussed whether the Philippines were on the Castilian or Portuguese side of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

In 1527, Ribeiro finished the Padrón Real, the official (and secret) Spanish map used as template for the maps in all Spanish ships.

In 1531, he invented a bronze water pump that was able to pump water out ten times faster than the previous models.

Diogo Ribeiro died on 16 August 1533.

World map

Ribeiro's most important work is the 1527 Padrón Real. There are 6 copies attributed to Ribeiro, including at the Weimar Grand Ducal Library (1527 ''Mundus Novus'') and at the Vatican Library, in Vatican City (1529 ''Propaganda Map'' or ''Carta Universal''). The layout of the map (''Mapamundi'') is strongly influenced by the information obtained during the Magellan- Elcano trip around the world.

Diogo's map delineates very precisely the coasts of Central and South America. It shows the whole east coast of the Americas but of the west coast only the area from Guatemala to Ecuador. However, neither Australia nor Antarctica appear, and the Indian subcontinent appears too small. The map shows, for the first time, the real extent of the Pacific Ocean. It also shows, for the first time in cartography, the North American coast as a continuous one (probably influenced by Estêvão Gomes's exploration in 1524/25). It also shows the demarcation of the Treaty of Tordesillas.

See also

*Cartography of Latin America

Notes

  /small> - Diego Ribero's name also appears as "Diogo Ribeiro" in Portuguese documents.

  /small> - An exhibit of Padron Real was March 2002, in "Florida, the Making of a State".
"Introduction" (for exhibit "Florida, the Making of a State"),
Broward County Libraries, Florida, March 2002, webpage:

BL2

  /small> - The main sources include:

"The Cartographer Diogo Ribeiro", L. A. Vigneras,
1962, Imago Mundi, Ltd., Jstor webpage:

Jstor-304


"Science in the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, 1500–1800",
Daniela Bleichmar, Paula De Vos et al., USC, 2008, web (PDF):

UBP

"Marvellous countries and lands" (Notable Maps of Florida,
1507-1846), Ralph E. Ehrenberg, 2002, webpage:


:
notes some head mapmakers. ^/sup>
"Carta Universal" (slide description, Ribero bio),
Henry-Davis.com, webpage:

HDav346


"The story of maps", Lloyd Arnold Brown, 1979,
page 143, Google Books webpage:

BG-7BkC
notes 1527 Padron General, old Alcazar.

"Cabot Explorations in North America", D.O. True,
1956, Jstor, webpage
Jstor-236
notes General "after August 2, 1527".

Further reading

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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ribero, Diego
1533 deaths
Portuguese explorers
Spanish explorers
Portuguese cartographers
Spanish cartographers
Spanish inventors
Spanish people of Portuguese descent
16th-century Portuguese people
Year of birth unknown
16th-century cartographers