{{Short description|1547 atlas produced in France}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} [[File:Vallard_Atlas_HM29_f.1_000417A_original.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|The Vallard Atlas, showing [[Jave la Grande]]'s east coast]]
The '''Vallard Atlas''' is one of the most renowned [[atlas]]es of the 16th century. It is an example of the [[Dieppe maps|Dieppe school of cartography]], produced in [[Dieppe]], France, in 1547. On the front page is the inscription "{{ill|Nicolas Vallard|fr}} de Dieppe, 1547"; he is believed to be the first owner<ref>{{Cite journal|title=L'énigme de l'atlas dieppois|first1=Gilles|last1=Lapouge|pages=104–111|journal=Geohistoire|issue=2|year=2012}}</ref> and probably not the person who created the atlas.<ref name=Bancroft>{{cite web |url=http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/digitalscriptorium/huntington/HM29.html |title=Guide To Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library: HM 29 "Vallard Atlas" |publisher=Bancroft.berkeley.edu |access-date=2015-09-04 |archive-date=28 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928095111/http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/digitalscriptorium/huntington/HM29.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> It is believed that the Vallard Atlas was developed either by a Portuguese cartographer or from an earlier Portuguese prototype.<ref name=Bancroft/> Since 1924, the original atlas has been held by the [[Huntington Library]] in San Marino, California, United States.
== Description == The atlas consists of 68 pages, which include a calendar and 15 [[nautical chart]]s with illustrations, as well as detailed maritime information. It contains illustrations of the indigenous population of the New World.
The original atlas was bound in red leather with gold decorations in 1805.{{fact|date=August 2025}}
An unusual feature of the work lies in the fact that the map reverses the [[Map orientation|common orientation]] of the world, with the south at the top and the north at the bottom.<ref name=val>{{Cite book|title=Atlas Vallard, Libro de estudio|first1=Luís Filipe F.R.|last1=Thomaz|first2=D.|last2=Reinhartz|first3=C.M.|last3=García-Tejedor|year=2010|publisher=M. Moleiro |isbn=978-84-96400-47-4}}</ref>
==Speculation of the Portuguese discovery of Australia== {{Seealso|Theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia}} There is some speculation that, like some other works of the Dieppe school of maps, the atlas may show the Australian coastline with its depiction of a continent labelled [[Jave la Grande]], which would mean it preceded the documented discoveries by [[Willem Janszoon]] or [[James Cook]].<ref name=val/><ref>[[Kenneth McIntyre|K.G. McIntyre]] (1977), ''The Secret Discovery of Australia; Portuguese discoveries 200 years before Captain Cook''. (Souvenir Press, Medindie, South Australia. {{ISBN|0-285-62303-6}})</ref><ref>Trickett, P. (2007), ''[[Beyond Capricorn]]: How Portuguese adventurers discovered and mapped Australia and New Zealand 250 years before Captain Cook''. (East St. Publications. Adelaide. {{ISBN|978-0-9751145-9-9}})</ref><ref>Josef Brinke, "The Oldest Map Reproduction of Australia", ''Geografie,'' 65(1), 2024, pp.29-40.</ref> However, most historians do not accept this theory, and the interpretation of this feature of the Vallard and other Dieppe maps is highly contentious.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=William Arthur Ridley|title=The Portuguese Discovery of Australia, Fact or Fiction?|date=1989|publisher=National Library of Australia|location=Canberra|isbn=0642104816|page=6|url=http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/handle/2328/25694|access-date=2 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=A voyage of rediscovery about a voyage of rediscovery|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/26/australia.leadersandreply|access-date=25 February 2016|work=The Guardian|date=26 March 2007|location=London}}</ref><ref>Gayle K. Brunelle, "Dieppe School", in David Buisseret (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to World Exploration,'' New York, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp.237–238.</ref><ref>Robert J. King, "The Jagiellonian Globe, a Key to the Puzzle of Jave la Grande", ''The Globe: Journal of the [[Australian and New Zealand Map Society|Australian Map Circle]]'', No. 62, 2009, pp. 1–50.</ref><ref>Robert J. King, "Regio Patalis: Australia on the map in 1531?", ''The Portolan'', Issue 82, Winter 2011, pp. 8–17.</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.huntington.org/ The Huntington Library]. * [http://www.elmundo.es/album/la-aventura-de-la-historia/2015/10/15/561f84fb46163f75568b45e6_13.html Veröffentlichtes] Bild in der Tageszeitung El Mundo 15. Oktober 2015. * [https://www.moleiro.com/de/atlanten/atlas-vallard.html Faksimileausgabe] 2008 veröffentlicht von dem Verlag [[M. Moleiro Editor|M.Moleiro]].
[[Category:Atlases]] [[Category:1547 works]] [[Category:Theory of the Portuguese discovery of Australia]] [[Category:Maps of Australia]]