Figure 7.1. Waldseemüller’s Carta Marina

Figure 7.1

Waldseemüller, Martin. Carta Marina Navigatoria Portugallen Navigationes Atque Tocius
Cogniti Orsis Terre Marisque. [Strasbourg?], 1516. Jay Kislak Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.


Waldseemüller’s second world map, the Carta Marina, printed in 1516, is the first printed map known to include a scene of cannibalism in the Americas. Where Waldseemüller placed a parrot over South America on Universalis Cosmographia, a simple text now names it “Brazil or Land of the Parrots” (Brasilia sive Terra Papagalli). Slightly above that label, a line of characterizes the peoples living there as man-eaters (Anthropophagos genus hic est).

Farther north, human body parts hang from a tree while limbs are roasting over a fire. A legend placed next to the people labels the lands as Terra Canibalor (Land of the Cannibals) and states that man-eating peoples live there.

Once printed, the Carta Marina circulated widely. It even had subsequent revisions, such as that of 1525 by printer Lorenz Fries, which was printed again in 1527 and 1530.

With these printings, the power of the cannibal scene grew and the image “stuck” even as the Carta Marina became dated and copies were discarded. The image of the cannibalism scene continued to repeat on map after map, becoming a defining symbol for not only Brazil, but also the Americas. This was an inaccurate and devastating portrayal of native Americans that served the interests of European colonizers.