The
Cantino planisphere is the earliest surviving map showing
Portuguese geographic discoveries in the east and west. Named after Alberto Cantino, who smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502, the map includes a fragmentary record of the Brazilian coast as well as detailed depictions of African coasts. The map is also the earliest extant nautical chart where places (in Africa and parts of Brazil and India) are depicted according to their astronomically observed
latitudes. It is now held at the
Biblioteca Estense in
Modena, Italy.
Map: anonymous Portuguese cartographer