Sanson Map of the Americas

SANSON, Nicolas (1600-1667).
Atlantis Insula.
Atlas Antiquus Sacer Ecclesiasticus et Profanus.
Engraving with original hand color.
Amsterdam: Convens & Mortier, 1669.
21" x 25" sheet.

Sanson's Map of the Island of Atlantis -- the modern continents of North and South America. Fascinating map of America, published by Covens and Mortier by Nicolas Sanson, purporting to show the Western Hemisphere about 200,000 years ago before the earliest human civilizations.The map reflects the populating of the lost continent of Atlantis. The map shows the divisions of the land masses, as divided by the god Neptune, among his ten sons.Thule island is shown, which at the time was believed to be the source of Nordic races, based upon the work of Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann had taken Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and their accounts of the Trojan Wars to be literal truth. He then discovered ancient Troy in Asia Minor.Atlantis was first described by Plato about 400 B.C. Over the next 2300 years, many other scholars and pseudo intellects championed various elements of the legend. Among the more fantastic modern theories include those who believe that Atlantis is an island in a lake in Bolivia, a part of the Hollow Earth Theory, the site of a visit by Astronauts prior to the birth of Christ and other fantastic theories.The map shows the cartographic knowledge of the Western World as of the middle of the 17th Century, with California shown as an island, the Dutch discoveries in Australia and New Zealand and the style mythical / conjectural configurations of Alaska, Japan and the lands between.The present edition is re-engraved, eliminating the Mariette credit, with the addition of the words "Apud Autorum in Aedibus Regus 1699." This edition is not listed by McLaughlin, who notes only editions of 1669 and 1690. Burden notes 5 states (1669, 1677, 1690, undated edition with additional title above Tropic of Capricorn and 1741.