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.
Author
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
- Cosmographical treatise
- pilot's manual
Jacobo Cromberger
1519
Spain
1578 / partial
75 unnumbered leaves
G113 .E5
Background[edit]
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]
Legacy[edit]
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]