Geography, history, and imagination in maps

Admiring the art of cartography

- WALA LANG DR. JAIME C. LAYA

Before satellites and jets, people crossed the seas guided by stars and propelled by currents and wind. They drew maps to hint at lands and peoples beyond the horizon, perils and rewards that await.

An exhibit at the National Museum's Cebu branch presents, through maps, the story of Europeans in the Philippines. The maps, lent mostly by members of the Philippine Map Collectors' Society (PHIMCOS), show their growing knowledge of the shapes and location of islands, colonial expansion, regional and international trade, and disputes among themselves.

There are more than 80 maps on show, some more than 400 years old. They cover not only geography and history but also artistry and science. History is related in cartouches and coats of arms. Vignettes show the ships they sailed, natives they saw, mermaids and monsters they imagined, saints and cherubs that guided their way. Compass roses and globe gores demonstrate the science of navigation and the practices of cartography.

Highlights of the exhibition, entitled "Classics of Philippine Cartography," include the following.

Venturing into the unknown

“Zzubu and Mattam” (Pigafetta, 1521). The profitable spice trade was monopolized by Portugal who discovered and controlled the route to the Spice Islands around Africa and across the Indian Ocean. Spain dispatched Ferdinand Magellan to find an alternative route, via the Pacific Ocean. Magellan succeeded in crossing the Pacific but reached the Philippines instead. The expedition's chronicler, Pigafetta, drew and published the first map of islands in the archipelago, a distorted Cebu and Mactan.

Exploring the Far East