Juan de la Cosa chart

What it is

A nautical chart on parchment that represents for the first time the American continent on a surviving world map, with Cuba as an island and the Tierra Firme coast. It combines data from the voyages of Columbus, Cabot and the Portuguese.

The chart (Museo Naval, Madrid) bears the date 1500; some scholars have doubted its dating (a later date or later alterations have been proposed) and its integrity. Cuba is shown as an island before its 1508 circumnavigation.

What it led to

• a model for the official mapping of the Indies at the Casa de Contratación
• an early visual image of the New World for the European public

Built on

• Portolan chartc. 1290
• Columbus reaches the Americas12 de octubre de 1492

Made possible

• Padrón Real of the Casa de Contratación1508

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-11-06

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_of_Juan_de_la_Cosa