Plano della Rada e della Citta della Vera Cruz

Italian map of Vera Cruz, Mexico, and its surrounding coastline.

For a long period of time, Veracruz was the most important port in Mexico. Situated on the Atlantic side of the country, it became the Mexican logistics point for the Spanish Silver of Plate Fleet, the first organised convoy route established by the Spanish to transport goods across the Atlantic.

This map is based on Bellin's map of the same region, first issued in the "Histoire Generale des Voyages", a multi-volume work edited by the Abbee Resnal.

It appeared in the "Gazettiere Americano", a work issued at the end of the Seven Years War, focusing on the New World, particularly the West Indies and North America. It was edited by Marco Coltellini in Livorno and the maps are based on mixture of French and English maps. Jacques Nicholas Bellin was the main French source while the English maps seem to be sourced from several 18th century gazetteers including the Gentleman's Magazine, the London Magazine and the Universal Magazine. The cartographers usually associated with these publications were John Gibson, Emanuel Bowen and his apprentice Thomas Kitchin and Thomas Jefferys. [WIND4349]