A scarce and important 16th century map of South America

A very fine example of one of the earliest maps of the continent of South America and one of the few to use the original name of the Straits of Magellan, 'Estrecho de la Victoria', after his ship. The land and sea is filled with figures, ships, flying fish and seamonsters. This map was only published in the 1593 edition of Gerard de Jode's 'Speculum Orbis Terrae', published two years after Gerard's death by his widow and son Cornelis. This second edition, which contained nine other new maps, was to be the last: after the death of Cornelis in 1600 the plates were bought by Vrients, then the owner of the Ortelius plates, merely to suppress them.