João Teixeira Albernaz I also referred to as João Teixeira Albernaz, the Elder (late 16th centuryc. 1662), to distinguish him from his grandson, was the most prolific Portuguese

cartographer Cartography (; from , '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 imagined reality) can ...

of the seventeenth century. His works include nineteen

atlases An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditionally been ...

, a total of two hundred and fifteen maps. He stands out for the variety of themes, which record the progress of maritime and land exploration, particularly in the Portuguese

colony of Brazil Colonial Brazil (), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal. During the 300 years of Brazilian col ...

. João Teixeira Albernaz belonged to a prominent family of cartographers whose work extended from mid-sixteenth century until the late eighteenth century, including his father

Luís Teixeira Luís Teixeira or Ludovico Teixeira was a 16th‑century Portuguese cartographer and mathematician. He had two sons, Pedro Teixeira Albernaz and João Teixeira Albernaz I, also cartographers. In 1564 he passed his licencing examination in co ...

, uncle Domingos Teixeira, brother

Pedro Teixeira Albernaz Pedro Teixeira Albernaz was a Portuguese cartographer born in 1595 in Lisbon, Kingdom of Portugal. He came from a family of cartographers including his father Luís Teixeira, uncle Domingos Teixeira, and his brother João Teixeira Albernaz I who ...

and grandson João Teixeira Albernaz, the younger, as well as Estevão Teixeira.

Biography

João Teixeira Albernaz must have learned the craft from his father

, starting his own work in the seventeenth century. On 29 October 1602 he got his licence as master for "

Nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...

astrolabe An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomy, astronomical list of astronomical instruments, instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and Model#Physical model, physical model of the visible celestial sphere, half-dome of the sky. It ...

compass needle A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with m ...

s and cross-staff", having been examined by the royal chief-

cosmographer The term cosmography has two distinct meanings: traditionally it has been the protoscience of mapping the general features of the cosmos, heaven and Earth; more recently, it has been used to describe the ongoing effort to determine the large-sca ...

João Baptista Lavanha João Baptista Lavanha () (c. 1550 – 31 March 1624) was a Portuguese cartographer, mathematician and geographer in the service of the Spanish kings Philip II and Philip III. Life Lavanha was born in the middle of 16th century. His parents ...

. Three years later, in 1605, he was appointed

for the Warehouse Guinea and India (Casa da Mina and India?), where he worked until the end of his life. In the

Archive of the Indies The ''Archivo General de Indias'' (; standard abbreviation AGI; ), often simply called the Archive of the Indies, was created by Carlos III and inaugurated in 1785. It is housed in the former merchant guild building in Seville, Spain, built in ...

in Seville, there is a document recording his presence and also his brother,

Pedro Teixeira Pedro Teixeira (b.1570-1585 - d.4 July 1641), occasionally referred to as the Conqueror of the Amazon, was a Portuguese conquistador and military officer, who became, in 1637, the first European to travel up and down the entire length of the Am ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in order to design charts of ''Strait of St. Vincent'' and the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to the south. Considered the most important natura ...

. In 1622 presented a petition to the post of chief

, but the post was passed over to Valentim de Sá. In the late seventeenth century, in an opinion issued by Manuel Pimentel about the 1642 Atlas of Brazil, warns that errors in the first chart of this Atlas, which did not respect the boundary agreed between Portugal and Spain, concluding that the book was "no more than good paintings and illuminations".

Works

His work is of great interest both for its breadth and variety, and for the record of the progress of discovery and Portuguese maritime and overland exploration, particularly with regard to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. His works amount to nineteen

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

, grouped and loose charts, in a total of two hundred and fifteen charts. Those include: *c. 1616 – a copy of the codex titled ''"Rezão do Estado do Brasil"''. According to

Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Com ...

and Helio Vianna, only the charts of this codex are by João Teixeira. *1621 – Chart of the Strait of S. Vicente and Strait of Magellan, with his brother Pedro Teixeira de Albernaz *c. 1626 – "Livro que dá Rezão do Estado do Brasil", containing twenty-two chats, being a larger copy of the earlier 1616 *1630 – ''Atlas Taboas geraes de toda a navegação, divididas e emendadas por Dom Ieronimo de Attayde com todos os portos principaes das conquistas de Portugal delineadas por Ioão Teixeira cosmographo de Sua Magestade, anno de 1630'', manuscript in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. The first map, a world map summarizing the geographic knowledge at the time, presents a controversial Tordesillas line shifted to the west, incorporating the mouth of the

Rio de la Plata Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

and northeastern North America under Portuguese rule. *1631 – Atlas of the State of Brazil, available in 1960 in the Map Collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rio de Janeiro. Covers thirty-six charts displaying frames, legend and shields or grantees of the Crown, are not met. Have been sent by organizing D. Jerónimo de Athayde, the donee Captaincy of Ilhéus. Contains several elements illuminating on the sugar industry, as well as representing the estuaries of the Rio de la Plata and the Amazon River, showing the patterns of demarcation between Spain and Portugal; *1640 – Atlas of Brazil, composed of thirty-two letters on paper, that there are seven copies, of which the Historical Archives of the Ministry of Finance, Brazil. Has the particularity of each letter is preceded by a sheet with explanatory text. Codex exists in Torre do Tombo (Description of the land around the sea of St. Cross, commonly called Brazil, by John Teixeira, cosmographer of His Majesty the year 1640) is currently editing a full-color facsimile, showing thirty and letters, the first representing the territory of Brazil and the rest of its coast, with details of the final course of rivers, islands, ports and fortifications. *1643 – ''Atlas Universal'' (''Livro vniversal das navegasões feito em Lisboa por Ioão Teixeira Cosmographo de Sva Magestade, Anno 1643''), "Universal Atlas" with eight charts. Considered an exceptional artistic value, different from other Atlas of the author, because it presents essentially hydrographic information.

References

Bibliography

*CORTESÃO, Armando; MOTA, Avelino Teixeira da. ''Portugaliae monumenta cartographica (v. IV).'' Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, 1987. Reprodução fac-similar da edição de 1960. *DIAS, Maria Helena (coord.). ''Contributos para a História da Cartografia militar portuguesa D-ROM'' Lisboa: Centro de Estudos Geográficos

tc. TC, T.C., Tc, Tc, tc, tC, or .tc may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * Theodore "T.C." Calvin, a character on the TV series '' Magnum, P.I.'' and its reboot * Tom Caron, American television host for New England Sports Netw ...

2003. . *DIAS, Maria Helena; BOTELHO, Henrique Ferreira (coord.). ''Quatro séculos de imagens da Cartografia portuguesa = Four centuries of images from Portuguese Cartography (2ª ed.).'' Lisboa: Comissão Nacional de Geografia

1999. . *MOTA, Avelino Teixeira da. ''Cartas Portuguesas Antigas na Colecção de Groote Schuur.'' Lisboa: Centro de Estudos de Cartografia Antiga/Junta de Investigações Científicas do Ultramar, 1977. *VITERBO, Sousa. ''Trabalhos Náuticos dos Portugueses, Séculos XVI e XVII''. Lisboa: INCM, 1988. * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Albernaz, Joao Teixeira, I People from Lisbon 16th-century Portuguese cartographers 17th-century Portuguese cartographers 16th-century births 1662 deaths