3-057-297 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Map of California, 1666. 'Paskaerte Van Nova Granada en t'Eylandt California'. New Granada and the island of California. This map is possibly the most famous error in the history of charting. From the earliest Spanish explorers of the 1530s California was known to be a peninsula. However, a confused account of a later voyage was seized upon by an English map publisher in 1625, who proclaimed that California was 'found to be a goodly island'. This fable was established among mapmakers for almost a century.