page_title: Santa María (ship)
section_title: The map
hierarchical_section_title: Santa María (ship) / The name and provenience of the Santa Maria / Master of the Santa Maria / Was the historical Juan de la Cosa one man or two? / The map
caption_attribution_description: Español: Texto del mapa de Juan de la Cosa situado frente a la costa nororiental de Sudamérica (actual Brasil) que dice: "este cavo se descubrio en ano de mil y CCCC XC IX por castilla syendo descubridor vicentians" English: Text of the map of Juan de la Cosa located in front of the northeastern coast of South America (nowadays Brazil) that says: "este cavo se descubrio en ano de mil y CCCC XC IX por castilla syendo descubridor vicentians" ("this cape was discovered in the year of 1499 by Castile being the discoverer Vicente Yáñez")
context_page_description: La Santa María, alternatively La Gallega, was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, the others being the Niña and the Pinta. Her master and owner was Juan de la Cosa, a man from Santoña, Cantabria, operating in south Spanish waters. Requisitioned by order of Queen Isabella and by contract with Christopher Columbus, whom de la Cosa knew previously, the Santa Maria became Columbus' flagship on the voyage as long as it was afloat. Having gone aground on Christmas Day, 1492, on the shores of Haiti, through inexperience of the helmsman, it was partially dismantled to obtain timbers for Fort Navidad, "Christmas Fort," placed in a native Taíno village. The fort was the first Spanish settlement in the New World, which Columbus had claimed for Spain. He thus regarded the wreck as providential. The hull remained where it was, the subject of much modern wreck-hunting without successful conclusion.
  On its return to Spain, the expedition was instantly an international success story.
context_section_description: The most certain evidence of Juan de la Cosa, cartographer, is a world map on parchment discovered in 1832, now in the Museo Naval in Madrid. The map bears the inscription:
  "Juan de la cosa la fizo en el puerto de S:  ma en año de 1500"
  which can be translated
  "Juan de la Cosa made it in the port of Santa Maria in the year 1500"
  "Puerto de Santa Maria" is not the same place as "Santa Maria del Puerto." In the former case, the Puerto is named Santa Maria. In the latter case the community of Santa Maria is located within the terrain called Puerto. The minority view regards them as variants, perhaps by error, of the name of the same place, but the majority view regards the former as a port near Cádiz in Andalusia famous for its role in New World exploration. Regardless of whether Santa Maria is one place or two, Santona can still figure as Juan's birthplace. In either case, how Juan arrived at Andalusia from Cantabria is a gap, one explanation being that there were two Juan's from Santona, but even that explanation requires a move.
  The authenticity of the map has always been in question, especially since much of it is illegible to the unaided eye due to its dilapidated condition. Multispectral analysis, however, has brought out sufficient detail to perform cartographic and geographic analyses upon it, which are ongoing, and have been and are being published in a large variety of sources, many of them graphic. This article relies mainly on the summary given by Arthur Davies, who developed his theses in different articles and came to work up a standard summary.
  Exploration in the late 15th century was in the hands of a small class of veteran mariners, such as Columbus, de la Cosa, Vespucci, Cabot (another Genoese), and not a few others. History has dubbed these men and their companions Conquistadores from the later historical results, but it is unlikely that they viewed themselves as such in Columbus' time, being mainly interested in trade, gold, and colonization. Conquest is what they finally had to do to accomplish those goals in the lands of the natives. The resources for their explorations were provided by the monarchs of the major maritime countries: Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, John II of Portugal (El Hombre, "the Man") and his successor, Manuel I of Portugal (O Afortunado, "the Fortunate), and Henry VII of England. These monarchs in particular made exploration and possession of the New World their main preoccupation. They often allocated unlimited funding to the expeditions.
  The professional mariners had to be first of all skilled ship captains. Second, they had to be able to navigate and be familiar with charts (a trade word for marine maps). Unlike today's navigators, who rely on admiralty charts and GPS's to determine position within a few feet, 15th century mariners made their own charts during exploration of unknown lands, the "Portolan charts," from which subsequent sailors to the region would take sailing directions. These were promulgated freely among the mariners, in contrast to the classical protocols of secrecy. The monarchs, who had formulated treaties among themselves, needed to know as quickly as possible who had discovered and claimed what land masses, and when.
  In Columbus' times, the ad hoc portolans were brought back to the office of the chief navigator (whether captain or some other officer) where they were transferred to a mappa mundi, "world map." This latter was on view to any professional who visited the office. The mariners all knew each other. When not voyaging they visited each other to donate their own data and read the latest data from the mappa kept there. The development of the latest maps was their common cause, otherwise they continued to compete.
  That Juan de la Cosa had his own office at Puerto de Santa Maria is thus made certain by the surviving map, published in 1500 under his name. That he did not himself draw the mappa is shown by the names assigned places on coasts he visited, and had a major hand in the nomenclature, such as the coast of Venezuela in 1499, but appear garbled 
caption: este cavo se descubrio en ano de mil y CCCC XC IX por castilla syendo descubridor vicentians
  
  this cape was discovered in the year of 1499 by Castile being the discoverer Vicente Yáñez
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