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Dirección de Hidrografía

Portolano de la America Septentrional

The charts on this page were all published in one of the four parts of the "Portolano de la America Septentrional".  As such they are a rare early record of Spain's New World possessions in 1809.

In its earliest years Spanish exploration of the new world was directed from the Casa de Contratación in Seville, Spain..  From 1505 to 1790 that organization controlled Spain’s efforts to colonize and exploit its overseas possessions west of the line established by the Treaty of Tordesillas.  The Casa de Contratación was disbanded in 1790.

In 1797 the king of Spain directed the establishment of the Dirección de Hidrografía (Directorate of Hydrography) to standardize and coordinate cartographic activities from Madrid, Spain.  The work of this organization continued through 1908. 

In 1809 the Direccion published an atlas of  plans of bays, harbors, and ports from Spain’s New World possessions: “Portolano de la America Septentrional Construido en la Direccion Detrabajos Hidrograficos”.  (An updated version was published in 1818). This atlas was divided in four parts:

Part I.  Puertos de las islas Antillas.
  16 charts from the Antilles including Tortola, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, 
  Antigua, Granada, and Trinidad

Part II. Puertos de las Costas de Tierra Firme, Florida y
  Seno Mejicano.
  41 Charts from USA (Florida and Texas) , Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
  and Columbia

Part III. Puertos de la isla de Cuba
  34 Charts of Cuban ports

Part IV.  Puertos de las islas de Santo Domingo y Jamaica
  22 Harbor and port charts of Haiti, Santo Domingo and Jamaica 

In the early 20^th century the Dirección de Hidrografía was closed as Spain's hydrographic activities were reorganized and spread among several organizations. Today these hydrographic activities are conducted through Spain’s Instituto Hidrográfico de la Marina in Cadiz, Spain where it has operated under control of Spain’s navy since 1943.

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