The Dirección de Hidrografía, or the Directorate of Hydrographic Works, was established in 1797. Its roots were in the Casa de Contratación, founded in 1503 in Sevilla, which housed all the charts of the Spanish Empire and oversaw the creation and maintenance of the padrón real, the official master chart. The Casa, now in Cadiz, was shuttered in 1790, but Spain still needed a hydrographic body. In response, the Dirección was created in 1797. One of its first projects was the publication of charts from the Malaspina Expedition (1789-1794). The Dirección oversaw not only publication, but also surveying. The Dirección was abolished in the early twentieth century, when their work was distributed to other organizations.
Scarce coastal chart of the region from Long Island to Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence. Extremely detailed. Spanish Sea Charts of this region in the mid-19th Century are quite scarce on the market.
Scarce coastal chart of the United States Coastline, published in Madrid. The map shows the region between New York and Long Island in the north to the San Juan River in Florida. Spanish Sea Charts of this region in the early-19th Century are quite...
The foundational Spanish sea chart of the Gulf Coast, Florida, Texas, etc. -- One of the six most important maps of Texas (Streeter). This is the first large-scale printed chart of the Texas coast based upon actual soundings and explorations. The map...
A Landmark Spanish Chart of Florida and the Bahamas Important early 19th Century Sea chart of Florida and the Bahamas, one of the earliest Spanish Sea Charts to focus on the coast of Florida and the Bahamas. The map offered here is identified as...
![[Florida] Boca y Barra Del Rio Sn. Juan..](/map/small/43864.jpg)
Rare early chart of the lower San Juan (St. Johns) River, Florida, published in the Portulano de la America Septentrional, under the auspices of the Direccion De Hidrografia in Madrid, in 1809. The Portulano de la America Septentrional The...
![Boca y Barra Del Rio Sta. Maria [Florida]](/map/small/43885.jpg)
Rare plan of the Mouth of the St Mary's River. Includes soundings, Ft. Arriando, Sta. Maria, Tiger, Cumberland and Amelia Islands, and a number of other geographical points and topographical details. Issued in the rare Portulano de la America...
Rare Spanish Chart of the Mouth of the Nassau River and Part of Amelia Island and Talbot Island. Fine example of the first detailed chart of the Nassau Sound and the surrounding islands. Includes soundings, Point del Tenedero, Talbot and Amelia...
Scarce Spanish Sea Chart of the Gulf of Mexico, from Texas and the Yucatan to Florida and Cuba. Includes notes on the direction of the currents. A note opposite the Florida keys states that "Within these limit the current is directed strongly over...
![[Matagorda Bay] Bahia De S. Bernardo](/map/small/54374.jpg)
Fine example of the first separately printed sea chart of Matagorda Bay, published in the Portulano de la America Septentrional, under the auspices of the Direccion De Hidrografia in Madrid. As noted by Streeter this map of Bahia de S. Bernardo is:...
![[Newfoundland] Carta Esferica en dos hojas Del Banco y La Isla De Terranova con parte de la Costa de Labrador, Consruida en la Direccion de Hidrografia seun las ultimas publicadas por el Deposito hidrografico de Londres y presantada a S.S.M.M. por Don Ju](/map/small/42237sh.jpg)
Northern chart of this scarce Spanish Chart of Newfoundland and Labrador, published in Madrid.
Rare separately issued chart of the harbor at Vera Cruz, as surveyed by Bernardo Orta in 1798. The chart was of such importance that it was later re-issued on a smaller scale by Alexander von Humboldt. Orta's chart shows the coast of Mexico and the...
Scarce separately issued Spanish Sea chart of the Coast of Mexico, from Santander to Yucatan. Highly detailed, including soundings and lighthouses.
Early edition of this important Spanish chart of part of the Bahama Channel and the northern coastline of Cuba, published by the Spanish Admiralty. First issued in 1799, this example adds rhumb lines not on the earlier state of the chart. This is the...
![[Bahamas, Cuba, Santa Domingo] Carta Esferica que comprende los desemboques Al Norte De La Isla de S.to Domingo y La Parte Orientale Del Canal Viejo De Bahama. Construida de oreden superior en la Direccion Hidographical y publicado en Madrid ano 1802](/map/small/48809.jpg)
A Working Spanish Sea Chart Centered on the Turks & Caicos Islands and the Southern Bahamas Scarce Spanish Sea Chart of the southern part of the Bahamas, eastern Cuba, most of Jamaica, western Haiti and neighboring islands. The map extends from...
Highly detailed and accurate engraved map of the bay on the north side of Cuba. The map shows soundings in the bay, elevation is rendered pictorially. The map is based on the surveying work of Joaquin Francisco Fidalgo (1758-1820). He was a teacher...
Rare separately issued Spanish Sea Chart of the Virgin Islands, published by the Spanish Hydrographical Department in Madrid. The map extends from Culebra and Culebrita in the west to St. John, St. Thomas, Hans Lolik, Joost Van Dyke, Western Tortola,...
