The Wake

Tucked away on the West Bank, veiled in Wilson Library on the fourth floor, hidden back in the James Ford Bell Library and guarded under glass is this semester’s exhibit, “Creating the First Global Empire: Portuguese Exploration and Expansion in the Early Modern World.” The exhibit displays original treasures from the early days of sea exploration and cartography.

The exhibit opened Sept. 5 and showcases original maps, rare books and manuscripts from the 15th, 16th and 17th century escapades which led the Portuguese in expansion of the first global empire – spreading from the Atlantic, to Africa and the Indian Ocean Basin, eventually extending from Brazil to Japan.

Though the exhibit’s visitors won’t receive much of a history lesson on early seafaring exploration, the experience is worthwhile. Manuscripts and books documenting the maritime adventures are on display, protected under glass and likely written in Latin – but merely seeing the hand painted maps and scribed voyage letters can incite a sense of awe. A generation that benefits from GPS (Global Positioning System) maps, online instant directions, and a city bus hotline to trek around even their own turf should be awestruck to see the actual maps and travel accounts of the first explorers to chart the land.

As perhaps one of the earliest evolutionary predecessors of www.MapQuest.com, the exhibit’s unique pieces include the first published woodcut globular map to include the Western hemisphere, created by cartographer Martin Waldseemüller of Germany in 1507. The map is the first to chart the new lands of what would be North America as a continent separate from Asia, and the first to print the name “America.” For those rusty on their world history, note cards at the exhibit give a quick lesson. Waldseemüller named the newfound land in the South Atlantic “America” after Amerigo Vespucci, a revolutionary explorer whose travel accounts inspired Waldseemüller’s mapmaking.

Another distinctive piece on display is one of the earliest broadside paintings depicting the exploration of South America. The painting, created by Georg Sturchs of Germany between 1505 and 1506, is thought to portray Vespucci’s fleet sailing under the Portuguese flag at the mouth of the Plate River on January 1, 1502, according to an exhibit sign.

Also on display is the first Latin edition of the earliest collection of voyages after Christopher Columbus’ letters. The three voyages of Columbus, the third voyage of Vespucci, the voyage of Pinzon to Brazil and the voyage of Vasco de Gama from 1497 to 1499 are included in the collection, put together by Fracanzano da Montalbaddo in 1508.

A scribed oration, circa 1499, including the first known documented reference to any Portuguese discoveries is showcased at the exhibit. Vasco Fernandes de Lucena mentions Africa among other exploration references in the oration of Portuguese royal obedience to the pope.

Rafael Tarrago, librarian for Iberian, Ibero-American & Chicano Studies, helps curate the exhibit and says he hopes exhibit goers not only learn about the adventures of the Portuguese explorers, but also “about the breadth of the rare books and manuscripts collections at the U of M in general, and at the James Ford Bell Library in particular.” The library did not have to track down any of the documents on display for the exhibit, it already had them on hand, Tarrago explains. The James Ford Bell Library has a collection of over 20,000 rare books, 2,500 maps and 2,500 manuscripts documenting European expansion from 1400 to 1800.

“Great collections start with individual collectors like Mr. Bell,” Tarrago says. The library was spurred by the private collection of James Ford Bell, the founder of General Mills who donated his treasures to the university in 1953, the library’s Web site explains.

Appreciation for the exhibit will be greater to those who remember 4th grade lessons about Columbus and friends. For the rest of us, informative notecards describing the displays help to jog the memory and we may even leave inspired to look up a little early world history – perhaps while we wait for the browser to upload directions.

The exhibit is free of charge and is open through Dec. 31 in the James Ford Bell Library on the fourth floor of Wilson Library, 309 19th Ave. S. It is sponsored by the American Portuguese Studies Association; the exhibit’s curators are Dr. Marguerite Ragnow, library curator, and Tarrago. For more information on the James Ford Bell library, see .