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Suma de Geographia

Suma de Geographia (Spanish: Suma de Geografía; lit. 'sum of geography') is a Spanish book on cosmography, geography, and maritime navigation written by Martín Fernández de Enciso and published in 1519 in Seville. Suma is deemed the first pilot's manual to comprehensively describe the New World as then understood by the Spanish and Portuguese. It is further noted as the first appearance in print of the Spanish requerimiento, and as a seminal work in Spanish navigational guides of the period.

Suma de Geographia
Title page of Suma de Geographia, first edition copy at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, showing 'within woodcut border an armillary sphere held by an extended left hand, the whole, including title below the woodcut, inclosed by other border' (per LC)
Title page of Suma de Geographia / 1st ed / via UCM
AuthorMartín Fernández de Enciso
Original titleSuma de geographia [que] trata de todas las partidas [e] prouincias del mundo: en especial delas indias. [e] trata largame[n]te del arte del marear: juntame[n]te con la espera en roma[n]ce: con el regimie[n]to del sol [e] del norte: nueuamente hecha
Subject
PublisherJacobo Cromberger
Publication date
1519
Publication placeSpain
Published in English
1578 / partial
Pages75 unnumbered leaves
OCLC52045426
LC ClassG113 .E5
Original text
Suma de geographia [que] trata de todas las partidas [e] prouincias del mundo: en especial delas indias. [e] trata largame[n]te del arte del marear: juntame[n]te con la espera en roma[n]ce: con el regimie[n]to del sol [e] del norte: nueuamente hecha at Spanish Wikisource

Background

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Martín Fernández de Enciso is thought to have begun writing his Suma de Geographia in Spain by at least 1518.[1] Enciso was granted a printing patent for Suma in Zaragoza on 5 September 1518.[2] The work was first published in Seville in mid-to-late 1519 by Jacobo Cromberger.[3] A revised edition was published in Seville in 1530 by Juan Cromberger, and later first reprinted posthumously in Seville in 1546 by Andrés de Burgos.[4] A partial English edition, A briefe description of the weast India, was first published in London in 1578 by Henry Bynneman.[5]

Contents

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Suma is deemed to consist of two parts, a cosmographical (cum nautical), and a geographical one, in that order.[6] The cosmographical treatise expounds on the configuration and functioning of the (Ptolemaic, geocentric) universe, and further provides practical guidance on maritime navigation.[7] The geographical discourse presents select human and physical features of the Old and (known) New Worlds, as split by the Tordesillas meridian through El Hierro.[8][n 1][n 2]

Contents of Suma de Geographia.[9][n 3]
Part Contents Start End Notes
Preliminaries title, printing patent, dedication to Charles V 1r 2v –
Cosmography on Ptolemaic universe, on Sacrobosco geometry useful for cartography 3r 9r –
Cosmography solar declination tables, on use of quadrant and astrolabe to determine latitude with reference to both North Star and sun 9v 25r –
Geography Old World – Europe 25v 42r –
Geography Old World – Asia 42r 52r –
Geography Old World – Africa 52r 63v –
Geography New World – Portuguese discoveries south of the equator ie Brazil 63v 66v –
Geography New World – Spanish insular discoveries north of the equator ie Antilles 66v 70v incl possible allusion to Río de la Plata at 67v, to Florida at 70v
Geography New World – Spanish mainland discoveries north of the equator ie coast from Gulf of Paria to Bay of Honduras ie golfo de Paria to cabo de las figueras 70v 75r incl requerimiento at 72v
Geography New World – discoveries north of the Azores ie Canada ie labrador, los bacallaos 75r 75v –
Colophon colophon 75v 75v incl sources at 75v

Legacy

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Suma has been deemed the first pilot's manual in Spanish, and the first such for the New World.[10][n 4] It is further noted as the first print book to include the Spanish requerimiento.[11] It is thought to have been particularly influential for later Spanish works on maritime navigation.[12]

See also

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Notes and references

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Explanatory footnotes

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  1. ^ A world map was meant to accompany this part, but in the end was not published in any edition 'for reasons apparently unknown' (Torres López 2019, linked doc. presentación de la obra, pp. 5, 7). It has been suggested that the aforementioned reasons were political, it being feared that Portugal might have misgivings about the map's publication (Melón y Ruiz de Gordejuela 1961, p. F-8). It has been further suggested that the unpublished world map proved 'very influential' to the one smuggled by Robert Thorne to England in 1527, later published by Hakluyt in 1580 (Torres López 2019, linked doc. presentación de la obra, p. 5).
  2. ^ It has been suggested that this part reflects Iberian geographical knowledge of the New World as it stood 'towards the beginning of 1517,' including a North America as conceived prior to Spanish discovery of the Yucatán Peninsula and Gulf of Mexico (León Cázares 2015, p. 64)
  3. ^ Leaf numbers in Start, End, Notes columns refer to unnumbered first edition leaves.
  4. ^ Earlier Portuguese manuals, Guia de Munich (ca 1509) and Guia de Évora (ca 1516), preceded the Suma to print, with the first such Guia deemed the earliest printed pilot's manual simpliciter (Pintos Amengual 2023, p. 7).

Short citations

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  1. ^ León Cázares 2015, p. 59.
  2. ^ León Cázares 2015, p. 61, fn 29.
  3. ^ Martínez Muñoz 2017, p. 6; León Cázares 2015, pp. 60, 64.
  4. ^ León Cázares 2015, pp. 60–61; Pintos Amengual 2023, p. 11; Martínez Muñoz 2017, p. 6.
  5. ^ Torres López 2019, linked doc. presentación de la obra, p. 5.
  6. ^ León Cázares 2015, p. 62; Pintos Amengual 2023, p. 7; Martínez Muñoz 2017, p. 6.
  7. ^ León Cázares 2015, p. 62; Pintos Amengual 2023, pp. 12–13; Prieto 2010, p. 170.
  8. ^ León Cázares 2015, p. 62; Pintos Amengual 2023, pp. 12–14; Prieto 2010, p. 170.
  9. ^ Fernández de Enciso 1519, ff. 1r–75v.
  10. ^ Pintos Amengual 2023, pp. 7, 14; Torres López 2019, linked doc. presentación de la obra, pp. 2–3, 5; Martínez Muñoz 2017, pp. 4, 6; Prieto 2010, pp. 169–170.
  11. ^ Melón y Ruiz de Gordejuela 1961, p. F-15.
  12. ^ Torres López 2019, linked doc. presentación de la obra, p. 5; Martínez Muñoz 2017, p. 4, fn 2.

Full citations

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  1. Fernández de Enciso M (1519). Suma de geographia, q[ue] trata de todas las partidas & prouincias del mundo: en especial de las indias: & trata largame[n]te del arte del marear: juntame[n]te con la espera en roma[n]ce: con el regimie[n]to del sol & del norte: nueuamente hecha (1st ed.). Jacobo Cronberger: Seville. LCCN 02008361.
  2. Carpi E (2004). El léxico de la "Suma de Geographía" de Martín Fernández de Enciso. Estudios de la UNED. Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. ISBN 84-362-0690-8.
  3. León Cázares MC (2015). "Nuevas luces sobre un antiguo testimonio acerca de los mayas: el informe de la expedicón comandada por Juan de Grijalva". Estudios de Cultura Maya. 45: 49–89. doi:10.19130/iifl.ecm.2015.45.133 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISSN 0185-2574.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  4. Martínez Muñoz A (2017). "Geografía y libros de caballerías: Martín Fernández de Enciso, Jerónimo de Chaves y Paolo Giovio como fuentes de la cartografía caballeresca". Historias Fingidas. 5: 3–23. doi:10.13136/2284-2667/72.
  5. Melón y Ruiz de Gordejuela A (1950). "La geografía de M. Fernández Enciso (1519)". Estudios Geográficos. 11 (38): 29–43. ISSN 0014-1496.
  6. Melón y Ruiz de Gordejuela A (1961). "El primer manual español de geografía". Anales de la Universidad de Murcia: Filosofía y Letras. 19 (1): F-5–F-18. hdl:10201/21743. ISSN 0463-9863.
  7. Pintos Amengual G (2023). "The Suma De Geographia By Fernández De Enciso, 1519: Piloting and Geography". Global Journal of Human-Social Science. 23 (D1): 7–16. ISSN 2249-460X.
  8. Prieto A (2010). "Alexander and the Geographer's Eye: Allegories of Knowledge in Martín Fernández de Enciso's Suma de geographía (1519)". Hispanic Review. 78 (2): 169–188. doi:10.1353/hir.0.0101. JSTOR 25703515. S2CID 162208432.
  9. Torres López C (27 March 2019). "Suma de Geographia (1519)". Cátedra de Historia y Patrimonio Naval (Blog). Madrid & Murcia, Spain: Armada Española & Universidad de Murcia. Archived from the original on 6 January 2024.
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