Salvatore de Pilestrina (), also known as Salvat de Pilestrina, was a mapmaker in

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

in the early 16th century. Scholars suggest he was of Italian origin, in part because his work combines Italian and Catalan mapmaking techniques of the period. He likely traveled from Italy to

to study

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

there. His known period of activity spans from 1502 to 1533. Pilestrina is known for his work on

portolan charts Portolan charts are nautical charts, first made in the 13th century in the Mediterranean basin and later expanded to include other regions. The word ''portolan'' comes from the Italian ''portulano'', meaning "related to ports or harbors", and whi ...

, and he was active with the

Majorcan cartographic school "Majorcan cartographic school" is the term coined by historians to refer to the collection of predominantly Jewish cartographers, cosmographers and navigational instrument-makers and some Christian associates that flourished in Majorca in the 1 ...

. He created several significant maps of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, the originals of which have been lost. He is also thought to have produced a number of other maps that extended to the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, including a map of the Atlantic coast of

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. His first known chart was a major world map, produced around 1503. Other known works were produced in 1504 or 1505, in 1511, and in 1533. While other maps have been attributed to him, their origins are contested by historians.{{Cite book, last=Winsor, first=Justin, url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ACP2377.0004.002, title=Narrative and critical history of America, ed. by Justin Winsor., date=1884, publisher=, year=, isbn=, location=, pages=

References

16th-century Italian cartographers 16th-century geographers Majorcan cartographers Italian emigrants to Spain