10. Pedro Reinel, Portulan, ca. 1485

Color Plate 10

2 Fi 1582 bis, Archives départementales de la Gironde, Bordeaux.


Pedro Reinel signed this Atlantic chart that extends from the British Isles in the North of the Zaire River in the South. The date of the chart is given by its holding repository–the Archives départementales de la Gironde–as 1485, but it may well be as late as 1492. Reinel turned the animal skin so that North appears at the top of the chart; on Mediterranean charts, the “neck” appeared in the West. This gave Reinel a North-South axis that allowed more information on the Atlantic to be incorporated. In addition, Reinel entered a long coastline over the interior of Africa. Why the coastline is placed here  is unclear–was it to save on costly vellum? Or was it to present more information requested by a patron? Whatever the reason, it greatly expands the information on West African provided by the chart, for this coastline extends from São Jorge da Mina to the Zaire River.