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Latin America and the Caribbean

By Dr. Kate Matheny (kgmatheny@ua.edu) and Dr. Lorraine Madway

Scope

This page lists materials from UA Libraries Special Collections related to Latin America — that is, to Central and South America. For much of the 16th-19th centuries, the Americas were colonized European powers. Beyond North America, it was mostly a Spanish sphere of influence, with the notable exception of Brazil, which was colonized by the Portuguese. Other powers had smaller footprints in the region, including the English (Belize/British Honduras and Guyana/British Guiana), French (French Guiana), and Dutch (Suriname/Dutch Guiana, and Dutch Brazil or New Holland).

We have included the Caribbean region in this survey because materials about Latin America often include content about these islands as well. They played a significant role in European interest in the Americas and were subject to similar colonial pressures and part of the same broader conversation. For example, travel narratives of the West Indies frequently chronicled trips to nearby Panama, Venezuela, or Guyana.

About search terminology: Titles of individual works may use outdated names for countries, and these may prove useful in searching for like items. However, helpful librarian-applied subject headings generally use modern names, for example, Haiti rather than Saint-Domingue or Colombia rather than Gran Colombia. Exceptions include the frequent grouping of the “Guianas” (modern French Guiana, Guyana, and Suriname) and the continued use of “West Indies” as a narrower term than “Caribbean.” If searching in the Caribbean region, you may want to use sub-regional terms like “Greater Antilles,” “Lesser Antilles,” “Leeward Islands,” and “Windward Islands.” In general, you can use “South America” and “Central America” as they are commonly understood, or “Latin America” for the whole region, including the Caribbean.

Materials are broken down into the following types:

  • Manuscripts
  • Rare Books
  • Maps

Manuscripts

Below is a list of archival collections related to the region, ranging from single items to collections of several linear feet. To further search for these kinds of materials, go to our Archives database.

Collections are listed by region and country. Some are listed more than once, under each heading that is appropriate.

Featured Collection

Wilfred A. Joubert Papers from Suriname and Mexico (MSS.4242) — A collection of maps, legal documents, correspondence, receipts, photographs, and other materials related to the business ventures of Wilfred Adelbert Joubert (1867-1940), an American businessman. Mr. Joubert moved to Paramaribo, Surinam (Dutch Guiana) from 1891-1899 to harvest balata — an early latex product — for the American Exploitation Company, then to Chiapas, Mexico to export bananas for the United States Banana Company (1908-1911), and then rubber for the Rio Michol Rubber Plantation Company (1911-1913). The materials in this collection cover Mr. Joubert’s business and personal life during this time. (11 linear feet)

Description from seller: A fairly extensive archive of the business and social life of Wilfred A. Joubert, an American businessman who had extensive dealings first in Paramaribo, Surinam (Dutch Guiana) and later in Chiapas, Mexico. Joubert seems to have landed in Surinam sometime around 1880 in hopes of harvesting and exporting balata (an early latex product) for The American Exploitation Company and as an official representative for a few other interests. Included in this archive are what appears to be early land documents with hand drawn maps and official Dutch stamps and signatures. Also included is a gold mining prospectus, a surveyor report and a folding printed map of Surinam (c. 1896) showing the latest gold discoveries with the location of found nuggets. Joubert later ended up in Mexico exporting rubber for the Rio Michol Rubber Plantation co. and bananas for the United States Banana Company, both in the midst of the Mexican revolution. Though it is not clear from the papers, it looks as though Joubert left Mexico as all Americans were warned to do by President Wilson. At this time he keeps up his correspondence with his Mexican interests and is asked by powerful New York bankers and politicians to travel the U.S. and give speeches to enlighten Americans on the “Mexican Conflict” with the hopes of also getting citizens to purchase bonds for W.W.I as Victory Liberty Loans.

This collection contains near 300 pieces weighing roughly 27 pounds containing the following: Joubert family history (Olmstead, Frye) papers; letters of recommendation (originals and copies; 3 Surinamese newspapers from the 1880s; officially registered powers of attorney; hand drawn land plots with official Dutch stamps and signatures (eight or more); balata sales contracts; personal letters describing life in Surinam; itemized receipts for corporation receipts; rare large scale map (55” x 99”) of Surinam (by Cateau Rosevelt & Van Lansberge, 1882, 1:200,000) on 10 separate sheets mounted on linen with pencil plot annotations; folding blueprint of Mexican rubber plantation; letters describing Mexican life, including Constitutionalists, horse and gun confiscation, exchange rates, price of rubber, Germans, Zapata, WWI, mahogany tree growth, Palenque Indians, building of a local garrison, taxes doubling, Mexico City, life in the jungle with small hand drawn river maps; large printed map of Mexico and the Mexican Railway network; Mexican contracts for the Rio Michol Rubber Plantation Co., the United States Banana Company and the Moctezuma Rubber Plantation Company; type script articles about Mexico for publication; photo book of plantation buildings and people with many smaller photos of a large wooden roller coaster being built (probably NY or NJ); Redpath Lyceum and other speaking engagement schedules for “The Mexican Situation” with train schedules; promotional cards for speeches; large folding promotional poster for speaking engagements; fictional story for a child (?); and other items. Most items in English, some in Dutch and Spanish.

Central America

Charles Hope Papers (MSS.4215) — A cover letter and memorandum from Charles Hope (1763-1851), a judge and politician in Edinburgh, Scotland, to another Scottish politician, Henry Dundas, on October 22, 1804, proposing wartime strategies for British commercial advancement in Latin America. The memorandum is titled “Hints as to the Conduct of this Country, in the event of a Spanish war.” (2 items)

Guatemala

Miles Rock Papers (MSS.4209) — A collection of correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, cartographic sketches, and other materials primarily related to the work of Miles Rock, an assistant astronomer with the US Naval Observatory and the chief of the Guatemalan Boundary Commission from 1883-1898. (1.6 linear feet)

George and Eleanor Bridges Papers (MSS.0210) — See correspondence in Spanish from friends in Cuba, Guatemala, and Mexico (in Box 4047, Folder 210.1)

Mexico

Miles Rock Papers (MSS.4209) — A collection of correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, cartographic sketches, and other materials primarily related to the work of Miles Rock, an assistant astronomer with the US Naval Observatory and the chief of the Guatemalan Boundary Commission from 1883-1898. (1.6 linear feet)

John Gorman Barr Papers (MSS.0116) — A collection of correspondence to and from John Gorman Barr, as well as other papers of this University of Alabama student, Tuscaloosa attorney, and United States Consul in Australia, known for his humorous writings. See Letter from John G. Barr, Veracruz, Mexico, to Margarette Barr, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, January 17, 1848 (in Box 2548, Folder 1).

Luther Fairfax Dashiell Papers (MSS.0396) — A collection of correspondence, speeches, and writings, relating to his work as a surgeon with the 1st Regiment of Louisiana Volunteers, stationed in Tampico, Mexico, during the Mexican War. (54 items)

Elizabeth Chandler Hendrix Diary (MSS.4279) — An unsigned, handwritten diary with details matching the life of magazine writer Elizabeth Chandler Hendrix, of Texas, who associated with key players in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). The diary covers her activities in Texas, Mexico, and New York during 1914-1915, including work on her novel My Brother’s Keeper (1915). There is also a typed transcript of the diary.

Columbus C. Dodson Letter (MSS.0440) — An 1848 letter written from Mexico City to his sister, Miss A. W. Dodson, Telaga Spring, Chatooga County, Georgia. (1 item)

Al to Queen Ellen Letter (in Wade Hall Collection on Travel and Tourism, MSS.4248) — A 1952 letter written from the Hotel Del Prado, most likely in Mexico City, Mexico, and provides news of daily life, information about the oil business, and observations relating to the native peoples of the area. (1 item)

George and Eleanor Bridges Papers (MSS.0210) — See correspondence in Spanish from friends in Cuba, Guatemala, and Mexico (in Box 4047, Folder 210.1)

Walter Bryan Jones Photographs (2011.004) — See photograph albums detailing trips to Mexico in 1920 and 1922 (in Boxes 5330 and 5128)

Nicaragua

Benton Bell Seat Memoirs (W.0013) — A typed copy of Benton Bell Seat’s 1916 autobiography, which covers his 1830 birth in Tennessee, his move to California in 1849 for the gold rush, his relocation to Texas and participation in the Civil War, his subsequent move to Nicaragua, and his return in 1901 to the United States in 1901. (1 item of 200 pages)

  • View the finding aid online in our archives database: Benton Bell Seat Memoirs
  • This collection is part of the A. S. Williams III Americana Collection at Gorgas Library. Please contact staff (specialcollections@ua.edu) to make an appointment to access it.

Panama

Cover of a 1905 report on sanitary efforts to control disease in the Panama Canal zone. (William Crawford Gorgas papers, MSS.0581)

William Crawford Gorgas Papers (MSS.0581) — A collection of correspondence, diaries, writings, and other material of this Alabama native who eradicated yellow fever Cuba and from the Panama Canal Zone, and served as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. (12 linear feet)

George Washington Goethals Letter (MSS.0575) — A 1918 letter from Goethals, former chief engineer of the Panama Canal and civil governor of the Panama Canal Zone, to O.M. Carter regarding Carter’s return to the “service.” (1 item)

The Caribbean

Charles Hope Papers (MSS.4215) — A cover letter and memorandum from Charles Hope (1763-1851), a judge and politician in Edinburgh, Scotland, to another Scottish politician, Henry Dundas, on October 22, 1804, proposing wartime strategies for British commercial advancement in Latin America. The memorandum is titled “Hints as to the Conduct of this Country, in the event of a Spanish war.” (2 items)

Cuba

William Crawford Gorgas Papers (MSS.0581) — A collection of correspondence, diaries, writings, and other material of this Alabama native who eradicated yellow fever Cuba and from the Panama Canal Zone, and served as Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. (12 linear feet)

George and Eleanor Bridges Papers (MSS.0210) — See correspondence in Spanish from friends in Cuba, Guatemala, and Mexico (in Box 4047, Folder 210.1)

Cuba Photograph Album and Journal (MSS.4173) — An album, part photograph album and part travel log, kept by an American woman while on vacation in Havana, Cuba, in the summer of 1946. (1 item)

Cuban postcards (MSS.3695) — A collection of postcards depicting scenes in Cuba in the early twentieth century. The postcards show images of rural life as well as the city of Havana and include images of shark fishing, a boneyard, and a man milking a burro. (20 items)

Guadeloupe

Page from an early 19th century letter written from Guadeloupe, discussing volcanic activity on Basse-Terre. (Letters to Lucile, MSS.0544)

Letters to Lucile (MSS.0544) — A numbered series of letters to Lucile from an unknown man living in on Guadeloupe, an island in the Lesser Antilles, during the early nineteenth century. Alternating between verse and prose, they discuss the geography, geology, and agriculture of the island, as well as reveal details about local creole culture. (14 letters)

Haiti

Loring Lyman Letter (in Wade Hall Collection on Travel and Tourism, MSS.4248) — An 1825 letter by Loring Lyman from Haiti to his brother the Reverend Orange Lyman of Oneida County, New York, describing his activities; subjects include immigrants, the climate, agriculture, the slave trade, Sierra Leone, and meeting the Haitian Governor. (1 item)

Jamaica

Katherene Peirce Allen Letter (MSS.3141) — An 1895 letter from Katherene Peirce Allen of Jamaica to her granddaughter, Minnie, with news from family and friends at home. (1 item)

South America

Charles Hope Papers (MSS.4215) — A cover letter and memorandum from Charles Hope (1763-1851), a judge and politician in Edinburgh, Scotland, to another Scottish politician, Henry Dundas, on October 22, 1804, proposing wartime strategies for British commercial advancement in Latin America. The memorandum is titled “Hints as to the Conduct of this Country, in the event of a Spanish war.” (2 items)

Earl McGowin Papers (MSS.0955) — See the travel diary kept by Essie Stallworth McGowin of Chapman, Alabama, during a trip to South America in 1939 (in Box 4271, Folders 2-3).

Brazil

Early 20th century image of the Brazilian countryside. (Keyes Family papers, MSS.0813)

Keyes Family Papers (MSS.0813) — A collection of correspondence, diaries, biographical notes, scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia and other papers. It concerns the emigration of the family of John Washington Keyes and his wife Julia Hentz Keyes to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after the Civil War, and their subsequent travel all over the world. (2.6 linear feet)

Whitman Family Papers (MSS.4228) — A collection of correspondence, diaries, photographs, clippings, books, and memorabilia related to the members of this prominent New England family, particularly Jason Whitman (1799-1848), a Unitarian minister in Portland, Maine, and Lexington, Massachusetts; and Bernard and Minnie Hamilton Whitman, who lived in Brazil and Colombia in the 1870s and 1880s while Bernard worked in South America as an engineer and street railway builder. (2.6 linear feet)

George and Eleanor Bridges Papers (MSS.0210) — See the log book kept by Bessie Spencer Massey of Birmingham, Alabama, on a cruise from New York City to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1923 (in Box 4047, Folder 210.2).

Columbia

Whitman Family Papers (MSS.4228) — A collection of correspondence, diaries, photographs, clippings, books, and memorabilia related to the members of this prominent New England family, particularly Jason Whitman (1799-1848), a Unitarian minister in Portland, Maine, and Lexington, Massachusetts; and Bernard and Minnie Hamilton Whitman, who lived in Brazil and Colombia in the 1870s and 1880s while Bernard worked in South America as an engineer and street railway builder. (2.6 linear feet)

Peru

Wade Hall Collection of World War II Materials (MSS.4253) — See Dr. John Harthan Letters: Two late 1940s letters from Dr. John Harthan of Lima, Peru, to Wilma and Foord Bichowsky of Wilmington, Delaware, telling about the South American opinion of the United States’ actions in Germany and the immigration of Jews into Peru. (in Box 4253.005, Folder 018)

Rare Books

Below are 17th-19th century books and other published items related to the region, both in English and in the languages of various colonial powers, especially French and Spanish. Many are written by travelers to the region, so they represent an outsider’s view — often racist and imperialist — of the peoples and places upon which they report.

Our published collections are cataloged and can be found by searching Scout.

Featured Books

Casimiro Castro, J. Campillo, L. Auda, and Y.G. Rodriguez. México y sus alrededores. Coleccion de vistas monumentales, paisajes y trajes del pais. … Segunda edicion, aumentada. Mexico: Imprenta Lithografica de Decaen, 1864 [ca. 1867].

70 pages, letterpress title and text, in two columns in Spanish and French. Folding lithographed map of Mexico City, tinted lithographed title, and forty-six lithographic views.

A significant Mexican lithographic production of 19th-century life in Mexico, particularly Mexico City. Plates depict scenes throughout the capital, including the cathedral of Guadalupe, Iturbide’s mansion, the College of Mines, Paseo de Bucareli, the Alameda of Mexico (with an air balloon towering above), Paseo de la Viga, and the interior of the national cathedral.

Of importance in this copy is the color plate titled “Indios Kikapoos,”  depicting eleven members of Kickapoo tribesmen, including a runaway Texas slave, who were presented at the court of the Austrian Archduke and Emperor of Mexico Maximilian in 1865. The Kickapoo tried to avoid involvement with the Confederacy or Union in the Civil War and pleaded for asylum from Texans who were on the war path against them.

The plates convey the convergence of tradition and modernity in self-representations of Mexican nationhood.

View digitized item online in our digital collections: México y sus alrededores

Album pintoresco, de la Republica Mexicana. Mexico: Julio Michaud y Thomas, [ca. 1850].

Lithograph title-leaf and 45 lithographic plates, 12 in full color and 33 on tinted grounds.

The first major Mexican lithographic and color plate book. Although undated, it contains battle scenes of the Mexican-American War (1846-47) and depicts the equestrian statue of Carlos IV in the courtyard of the University, from which it was removed in 1852, suggesting a date of circa 1850. The color plates depict various inhabitants in their local costumes standing amid sweeping terrain and graceful plazas. These include rancheros, tortilleras (women who make tortillas), and local Indians, among others. The tinted views show Vera Cruz, Mexico City, Independence Fountain, National Theatre, Chihuahua, Bay of Acapulco, and numerous other locales. The placement of the six plates showing scenes from the Mexican-American War at the end of the book suggests they were added to the original collection of plates.

View digitized item online in our digital collections: Album pintoresco

Rosti, Pál. 1861. Uti emlékezetek Amerikából. Pest, Hungary: 1861.

182 pages, plus lithograph titlepage and 15 lithographic plates, two in color, 12 tinted, and one black, with an additional 24 pages containing smaller lithographic illustrations

Rare Hungarian account of a tour through the Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America, illustrated with lithographs by author Pál Rosti and artist Gusztav Keleti. Rosti, a Hungarian naturalist and pioneering photographer in Latin America, visited the Americas between 1856 and 1858, retracing the steps of Alexander Humboldt (1769-1859). His observations contain useful documentation on social history, natural sciences, and ethnology. Rosti’s visit to Venezuela was the first photographic register of the country. Humboldt visited Rosti to see the first photograph taken of the Samán de Güere and exclaimed that the tree was the same as when he and Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (1773-1858) had seen it some sixty years earlier in 1800.

Plates include a scene in the Plaza de Armas in Havana, a view of Caracas, Venezuelans at rest in the rain forest, the small village of San Juan de los Morros, and bamboo plants in Trinidad. Mexican illustrations include the Plateau of Puebla, the Ravine of Santa María with the Orizaba volcano in the distance, a large cathedral in Mexico City, Mount Popocatépetl, and the village of Pachuca. Several in-text illustrations add details of the flora and fauna of the region as well as local dress and customs.

View digitized item online in our digital collections: Uti emlékezetek Amerikából

Vicente Riva Palacio and Manuel Payno. El libro rojo. Mexico: 1870.

153 pages, plus lithograph titlepage and thirty-eight lithographed plates. Large folio.

An elaborate 19th-century Mexican lithographic book, issued with large lithographs after drawings by Primitivo Miranda, depicting a pantheon of martyrs of the Mexican nation. Riva Palacio and Payno were noted intellectuals, and with this book they aimed to immortalize those who had sacrificed their lives for the nation, thus the title, Libro rojo or Red Book, signifying bloodshed throughout Mexican history. Many of the plates depict horrors inflicted either by Spaniards or by the Mexican Inquisition.

Depicted here are Montezuma II, Cuauhtemoc, Martin Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado, la familia Carabajal, la familia Dongo, Hidalgo, Allende, Morelos, Guerrero, Los Marires de Tacubaya, and Maximilian. The plate titled “La Peste (1577)” is partially colored and depicts a country village in Mexico affected by the plague. The lithographs are by H. Iriarte and S. Hernandez; the book printed by Diaz de Leon y White.

View digitized item online in our digital collections: El libro rojo

Los millones de la Mesilla, y sus misterios, en parte descubiertos, por uno de los pro-hombres del gobierno actual en México. Mexico: Reimpreso en Acapulco, 1855.

29 pages.

Rare Mexican imprint of a protest against the “avaricia insaciable” of Santa Anna and other Mexican government officials involved in the Gadsden Purchase of 1854, known in Mexico as La Venta de la Mesilla, in which the United States acquired what are now the southern portions of Arizona and New Mexico. The anonymous author, generally believed to be Ponciano Arriaga (1811-65), condemned the corruption of the government and wrote: “La palabra millones produce gran efecto de un avaro. ¡¡¡Millones!!! ¿Que importa el numero? Siete o Quince para Santa-Anna era lo mismo….No se trataba ni de Manga de Clavo, ni del Encero [sic]. Se trataba de la patria” (page 6).

View digitized item online in our digital collections: Los millones de la Mesilla

Bartholomé de las Casas. An Account of the first voyages and discoveries made by the Spaniards in America. Containing the most exact relation hitherto publish’d, of their unparallel’d cruelties on the Indians, in the destruction of above forty millions of people, With the propositions offer’d to the King of Spain, to prevent the further ruin of the West-Indies. . . . To which is added, The art of travelling, shewing how a man my dispose his travels to the best advantage. Illustrated with 2 folding plates from De Bry: one with 6 small scenes; the other with 16. London, Printed by J. Darby for D. Brown, 1699.

First English Edition, probably a translation of the French Edition of 1697.

Bartolomé de Las Casas, (1474 or 1484 -1566), early modern Spanish historian and Dominican missionary who was the first to expose the oppression of indigenous peoples by Europeans in the Americas and to call for the abolition of slavery there. His several works include Historia de las Indias (first printed in 1875). A prolific writer and in his later years an influential figure of the Spanish court, he nonetheless failed to prevent stay the progressive enslavement of the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

Cristóbal de Acuña. Voyages and discoveries in South America. The first up the river of Amazons to Quito in Peru, and back again to Brazil, performed at the command of the King of Spain. By Christopher D’Acugna. The second up the river of Plata, and thense by land to the mines of Potosi. By Mons. Acarete (du Biscay). The third from Cayenne into Guiana, in search of the lake of Parima, reputed the richest place in the world. By M. Grillet and Bechamel. Printed in London for S. Buckley, 1698.

Illustrated with 2 folding maps. One map (by Sanson d’Abbeville) is entitled “The Course of the river of Amazons;” the other depicts the “Provinces of Paraguay and Tucuman with the River Plate.” Three volumes bound in two.  First Edition in English of the narratives of the first Europeans to travel these regions.

Cristóbal de Acuña (1597-1676), a Spanish Jesuit missionary, was rector of the college at Cuenca. In 1638 he accompanied Pedro Texeira in an expedition from Quito, down the Napo and Amazons to Para with orders to note down the names of all Indian tribes, their manners and customs; the names of the rivers; the natural productions of the country; and to send in a full report to the council of the Indies, on his return to Spain.

“Acuña’s work, entitled ‘El Nuevo Descubrimiento del gran rio de las Amasonas,’ was published at Madrid in the year 1641; but before it had issued from the press, the Portuguese had shaken off the yoke of Spain, and again become an independent state. The wretched government of Philip IV, terrified lest the Portuguese should take advantage of any information contained in Acuña’s book, and forgetting that Texeira and all his officers knew quite as much about the Amazons as the Spanish priest, ordered every copy of the work to be . . . destroyed. It has consequently become exceedingly scarce.” (C. Markham, Expeditions into the Valley of the Amazons, 1539, 1540, 1639, pp. xxiii-xxv)

In 1658 Acarete du Biscay traveled overland across the Argentine pampas to the silver mines of Potosí, located in present-day Bolivia. In 1672, he published an account of this trip in his native French. This English translation was made from the later version of the work published in Paris in 1696. Acarete’s account contains one of the earliest detailed descriptions of Buenos Aires.

Luis Cuenca. El cultivo del algodon. Mexico: Imprenta del Gobierno, en Palacio, a cargo de Jose Maria Sandoval, 1869.

25 pp.

First and only edition of this rare study of cotton production in Mexico during the mid-19th century. The author is energized by the idea of introducing cotton to Mexico and the role it could play in the economy. Cuenca argued that with proper training on plant management, cotton would thrive in Mexico and become a main export of the economy. After enthusing about the wonders of the cotton plant, he focused on more practical information, including choosing where to plant, choosing and preparing the seed, preparing the earth and the planting method, the best time to plant seeds, proper maintenance of the plant, diseases to which cotton is susceptible, and the best methods for harvesting it.

View digitized item online in our digital collections: El cultivo del algodon

Other Books

Items are listed chronologically by language.

English

Dampier, William. 1700. A new voyage round the world.

  • Rare Books Collection G420 .D16 1700 v.1-2
  • First published in 1697

Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de. 1740. The general history of the vast continent and islands of America, commonly call’d, the West-Indies, from the first discovery thereof: with the best accounts the people could give of their antiquities.

  • Rare Books Collection E141 .H59 1740 v.1-5
  • Translated from the Spanish, Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos en las Islas y Tierra Firme del mar Océano que llaman Indias Occidentales (also known as the Décadas, 1601); first English translation in 1724

Jefferys, Thomas. 1760. The natural and civil history of the French dominions in North and South America.

  • Rare Books Collection F1030 .J45 1760

Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. 1800. The true history of the conquest of Mexico: written in the year 1568 by Captain Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of the conquerors.

Pons, François Joseph de. 1806. A voyage to the eastern part of Terra Firma, or the Spanish Main, in South-America, during the years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804.

  • Rare Books Collection F2311 .P81 v.1-3
  • Travel narrative: South America — Venezuela

Humboldt, Alexander von. 1811. Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain.

  • Rare Books Collection F1211 .H92 v.1-4
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Ker, Henry. 1816. Travels through the western interior of the United States, from the year 1808 up to the year 1816; with a particular description of a great part of Mexico, or New-Spain.

  • Rare Books Collection F396 .K38
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Brackenridge, Henry Marie. 1819. Voyage to South America, performed by order of the American government, in the years 1817 and 1818, in the frigate Congress.

  • Rare Books Collection F2235 .B78 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: South America — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela

Montulé, Edouard de. 1821. A voyage to North America, and the West Indies in 1817.

  • Rare Books Collection E165 .M81
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Dominican Republic, Jamaica, U.S. Virgin Islands

A Complete historical, chronological, and geographical American atlas; a guide to the history of North and South America, and the West Indies: exhibiting an accurate account of the discovery, settlement, and progress of their various kingdoms, states, provinces, &c. 1822.

  • Rare Books Collection Oversize G1100 .C65 1822

Bullock, William. 1824. Six months’ residence and travels in Mexico: containing remarks on the present state of New Spain, its natural productions, state of society, manufactures, trade, agriculture, and antiquities, &c.

Poinsett, Joel Roberts. 1825. Notes on Mexico, made in the autumn of 1822.

  • Rare Books Collection F1213 .P76
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Hayne, Robert Young. 1826. Speech of Mr. Hayne, delivered in the Senate of the United States, on the mission to Panama, March, 1826.

  • Rare Books Collection F1404 .H4 1826

Ranking, John. 1827. Historical researches on the conquest of Peru, Mexico, Bogota, Natchez, and Talomeco, in the thirteenth century, by the Mongols, accompanied with elephants; and the local agreement of history and tradition, with the remains of elephants and mastodontes, found in the New world.

  • Rare Books Collection E61 .R21

Niles, John Milton. 1827. A view of South America and Mexico:comprising their history, the political condition, geography, agriculture, commerce, &c. of the republics of Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, the united provinces of South America and Chile, with a complete history of the revolution, in each of these independent states by a citizen of the United States.

  • Rare Books Collection F1408 .N69 1827

Maw, Henry Lister. 1829. Journal of a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, crossing the Andes in the northern provinces of Peru, and descending the River Marañon or Amazon.

  • Rare Books Collection F2546 .M47
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil, Peru

Alexander, James Edward. 1833. Transatlantic sketches, comprising visits to the most interesting scenes in North and South America, and the West Indies. With notes on negro slavery and Canadian emigration.

  • Rare Books Collection E165 .A37 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: South America — Guyana; Caribbean — Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago

Ruschenberger, William Samuel Waithman. 1834. Three years in the Pacific; including notices of Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru.

  • Rare Books Collection F2213 .R95
  • Travel narrative: South America — Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru

St. Clair, Thomas Staunton. 1834. A residence in the West Indies and America: with a narrative of the expedition to the Island of Walcheren.

  • Rare Books Collection F2371 .S13 1834 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: South America — Guyana; Caribbean — Martinique

Terry, Adrian Russell. 1834. Travels in the equatorial regions of South America, in 1832.

  • Rare Books Collection F3714 .T32
  • Travel narrative: South America — Ecuador
Portion of book page with illustration of the island Redonda with surrounding text

The West Indian sketch book. 1834.

  • Rare Books Collection F2001 .W52 v.1-2

Geyer, Otto Ferdinand. 1835. Panorama of Mexico: comprising a complete and accurate description of the most remarkable curiosities of New Spain, and of the manners and customs of the Mexicans.

  • Alabama Collection F1213 .G49
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Madden, Richard Robert. 1835. A twelvemonth’s residence in the West Indies, during the transition from slavery to apprenticeship; with incidental notice of the state of society, prospects, and natural resources of Jamaica and other islands.

  • Rare Books Collection F2016 .M17 v.1
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Jamaica

Montgomery, George Washington. 1839. Narrative of a journey to Guatemala, in Central America, in 1838.

  • Rare Books Collection F1464 .M78
  • Travel narrative: Central America — El Salvador, Guatemala

Gurney, Joseph John. 1840. Familiar letters to Henry Clay of Kentucky, describing a winter in the West Indies.

  • Rare Books Collection F1611 .G96
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Jamaica

Turnbull, David. 1840. Travels in the West, Cuba; with notices of Porto Rico, and the slave trade.

  • Rare Books Collection F1763 .T94
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Cuba, Puerto Rico

Stephens, John Lloyd. 1841. Incidents of travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan.

  • Rare Books Collection F1432 .S83 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Calderón de la Barca, Madame. 1843. Life in Mexico :during a residence of two years in that country.

  • Rare Books Collection F1213 .C139 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Gregg, Josiah. 1844. Commerce of the prairies: or, The journal of a Santa Fé trader, during eight expeditions across the great western prairies, and a residence of nearly nine years in northern Mexico.

  • Rare Books Collection F800 .G8 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Mayer, Brantz. 1844. Mexico as it was and as it is.

  • Rare Books Collection F1213 .M46
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Van Heuvel, Jacob Adrien. 1844. El Dorado; being a narrative of the circumstances which gave rise to reports, in the sixteenth century, of the existence of a rich and splendid city in South America, to which that name was given, and which led to many enterprises in search of it; including a Defence of Sir Walter Raleigh, in regard to the relations made by him respecting it, and a nation of female warriors, in the vicinity of the Amazon, in the narrative of his expedition to the Oronoke in 1595.

  • Rare Books Collection F2358 .V25

Norman, Benjamin Moore. 1845. Rambles by land and water, or, Notes of travel in Cuba and Mexico; including a canoe voyage up the river Panuco, and researches among the ruins of Tamaulipas.

  • Rare Books Collection F1213 .N84
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Cuba, Mexico

Thompson, Waddy. 1846. Recollections of Mexico.

  • Rare Books Collection F1213 .T47
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Coulter, John. 1847. Adventures on the western coast of South America, and the interior of California: including a narrative of incidents at the Kingsmill Islands, New Ireland, New Britain, New Guinea, and other islands in the Pacific Ocean.

  • Rare Books Collection G477 .C86
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Ecuador

Edwards, William H. 1847. A voyage up the river Amazon, including a residence at Para.

  • Rare Books Collection F2546 .E25
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil

Osborne, John. 1847. Guide to the West Indies, Madeira, Mexico, New Orleans, northern South-America, &c., &c. :compiled from documents specially furnished by the agents of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, the Board of Trade, and other authentic sources.

  • Rare Books Collection F1608 .O815 1847

Strain, Isaac G. 1849. Cordillera and pampa, mountain and plain.

  • Rare Books Collection F3063 .S89
  • Travel narrative: South America — Argentina, Chile

Baird, Robert. 1850. Impressions and experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849.

  • Rare Books Collection F1611 .B16
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Barbados, Cuba, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, U.S. Virgin Islands

Colton, Walter. 1850. Deck and port; or, Incidents of a cruise in the United States frigate Congress to California.

  • Rare Books Collection F2223 .C72
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil, Chile, Peru

Semmes, Raphael. 1851. Service afloat and ashore during the Mexican war.

  • Alabama Collection E404 .S47
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Semmes, Raphael. 1852. The campaign of General Scott, in the valley of Mexico.

  • Alabama Collection E405.6 .S47
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico

Brownell, Charles De Wolf. 1853. The Indian races of North and South America:comprising an account of the principal aboriginal races; a description of their national customs, mythology, and religious ceremonies; the history of their most powerful tribes, and of their most celebrated chiefs and warriors; their intercourse and wars with the European settlers; and a great variety of anecdote and description, illustrative of personal and national character.

  • Rare Books Collection E58 .B88 1853

Herndon, William Lewis, and Lardner Gibbon. 1853. Exploration of the valley of the Amazon: made under the direction of the Navy Department.

  • Rare Books Collection F2546 .H551 pt. 1-2
  • Travel narrative: South America — Bolivia, Brazil, Peru

Bremer, Fredrika. 1854. The homes of the New world; impressions of America.

  • Rare Books Collection E166 .B853 v.1-2
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Cuba

Kidder, Daniel P., and James C. Fletcher. 1857. Brazil and the Brazilians: portrayed in historical and descriptive sketches.

  • Rare Books Collection F2513 .K435 1857
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil

Trollope, Anthony. 1859. The West Indies and the Spanish Main.

  • Rare Books Collection F1611 .T82
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Panama, Costa Rica; Caribbean — Jamaica

Warren, Thomas Robinson. 1859. Dust and foam; or, Three oceans and two continents; being ten years’ wanderings in Mexico, South America, Sandwich islands, the East and West Indies, China, Philippines, Australia and Polynesia.

  • Rare Books Collection G463 .W29
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Mexico, Panama; South America — Brazil, Peru

Mackie, John Milton. 1864. From Cape Cod to Dixie and the tropics.

  • Rare Books Collection F123 .M15
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Bahamas, Cuba, U.S. Virgin Islands

Elwes, Robert. 1866. W.S.W. A voyage in that direction to the West Indies, by Robert Elwes.

  • Rare Books Collection F1611 .E52
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Panama; Caribbean — Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago
Book page with illustration of a port on the island of Grenada

Gaston, James McFadden. 1867. Hunting a home in Brazil.

  • Rare Books Collection F2513 .G25
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil

Mathews, Joel E. 1867. Brazil–reflections on the character of the soil, climate, inhabitants and government.

  • Alabama Collection F2509 .M3 1867x
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil

Hastings, Lansford W. 1867. The emigrant’s guide to Brazil : containing a description of the empire…

Page of text from Otis's Isthmus of Panama, 1867

Otis, Fessenden Nott. 1867. Isthmus of Panama. History of the Panama railroad; and of the Pacific mail steamship company.

  • Rare Books Collection F1563 .O89
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Panama

Swett, Charles. 1868. A trip to British Honduras, and to San Pedro, Republic of Honduras.

  • Rare Books Collection F1444 .S97
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Belize, Honduras

Gallenga, Antonio Carlo Napoleone. 1873. The Pearl of the Antilles.

  • Rare Books Collection F1763 .G18
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Cuba

Markham, Clements R. 1873. Narratives of the rites and laws of the Yncas.

  • Rare Books Collection G161 .H2 no.48
  • Translations of four manuscripts in Spanish: (1) An account of the fables and rites of the Yncas, by Christoval de Molina; (2) An account of the antiquities of Peru, by Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti-Yamqui Salcamayhua; (3) A narrative of the errors, false gods, and other superstitions and diabolical rites in which the Indians of the province of Huarochiri lived in ancient times, by Francisco de Avila; and (4) Report by Polo de Ondegardo

Smith, Herbert H. 1879. Brazil, the Amazons and the coast.

  • Rare Books Collection F2513 .S64
  • Travel narrative: South America — Brazil
Map of Amazon River in Brazil, circa 1879

Ripley, Eliza. 1889. From flag to flag; a woman’s adventures and experiences in the South during the war, in Mexico, and in Cuba, by Eliza McHatton-Ripley.

  • Rare Books Collection F1763 .R58
  • Travel narrative: Caribbean — Cuba

Hearn, Lafcadio. 1890. Two Years in the French West Indies.

  • Lafcadio Hearn Collection F2081 .H43 1890a
  • Travel narrative: South America — Guyana; Caribbean — Grenada, Martinique, Trinidad and Tobago

Whymper, Edward. 1892. Travels amongst the great Andes of the equator, by Edward Whymper.

  • Rare Books Collection F3741.A6 W6
  • Travel narrative: Central America — Ecuador

French

de Laet, Joannes. 1640. L’Histoire du Nouveau Monde ou description des Indes Occidentales, contenant dix-huict livres, enrichi de nouvelles tables geographiqiues & figures des animaux, plantes & fruicts.

  • Rare Books Collection Oversize E143 .L17 1640
  • First French edition, translated by the author from the Dutch original, Nieuvve wereldt, ofte, Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien (1625)

Gage, Thomas. 1721. Nouvelle relation contenant les voyages de Thomas Gage dans la nouvelle Espagne, ses diverse avantures, & son retour dans la Province de Nicaragua jusqu’ à la Havane.

  • Rare Books Collection F1211 .G185 v.1-2
  • Translated from the English, The English-American, his travail by sea and land (1648)

Laval, Antoine Francois. 1728. Voyage de la Louisiane, fait par ordre du roy en l’année mil sept cent vingt: dans lequel sont traitées diverses matiéres de physique, astronomie, géographie et marine.

  • Rare Books Collection Q115.L7 L2 1728

Voyages et avantures du Chevalier de ***. 1769.

  • Rare Books Collection F1611 .V955 v.1-2

Bossu, M. 1777. Nouveaux voyages dans l’Amérique septentrionale, :contenant une collection de lettres écrites sur les lieux, par l’auteur, à son ami, M. Douin, chevalier, capitaine dans les troupes du roi, ci-devant son camarade dans le Nouveau Monde.

  • Rare Books Collection F373 .B74 1777

La Condamine, Charles-Marie de. 1778. Relation abrégé d’un voyage fait dans l’intérieur de l’Amerique méridionale :depuis la côte de la Mer du Sud, jusqu’aux côtes du Brésil & de la Guyane en descendant la riviere des Amazones.

  • Rare Books Collection F2546 .L15
  • First published in 1759

Girod-Chantrans, Justin. 1785. Voyage d’un Suisse dans différentes colonies d’Amérique pendant la dernière guerre, avec une table d’observations météorologiques faites à Saint-Domingue.

  • Rare Books Collection F1921 .G5

Robin, Claude C. 1807. Voyages dans l’intérieur de la Louisiane :de la Floride occidentale, et dans les isles de la Martinique et de Saint-Domingue, pendant les années 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805 et 1806.

  • Rare Books Collection F373 .R65 v.1-3

Azara, Félix de. 1809. Voyages dans l’Amérique Méridionale.

  • Rare Books Collection F2671 .A99 v.1-4
  • Translated by C. S. Sonnini from two Spanish texts: (1) Viajes por la América meridional and (2) Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los pájaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata, Madrid, 1802-05.

Humboldt, Alexander von. 1816. Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique.

  • Rare Books Collection F1219 .H90 1816a v.1-2
  • First published in 1810; we also have an English edition of 1811 (see above)

Pradt, Dominique Georges Frédéric, M. de. 1817. Des colonies et de la révolution actuelle de l’Amérique.

  • Rare Books Collection JV171 .P8 v.1-2
  • First edition

Montlezun, de baron. 1818. Voyage fait dans les annees 1816 et 1817, de New Yorck a la Nouvelle-Orleans, et de l’Orenoque au Mississippi; par les Petites et les Grandes-Antilles, contenant des details absolument nouveaux sur ces contrees; des portraits de personnages influant dans les Etats-Unis, et des anecdotes sur les refuges qui v sont etablis; par l’auteur des Souvenires des Antilles.

  • Rare Books Collection E165 .M78 v.1-2

Labat, Jean Baptiste. 1831. Voyage aux iles françaises de l’Amérique.

  • Rare Books Collection F2151 .L133

Thébault de l’Monderie, Frédéric. 1856. Voyages faits dans l’intévieur de l’Oyapock en 1819, 1822, 1836, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846 & 1847.

  • Rare Books Collection F2451 .T6x

Domenech, Emmanuel. 1857. Journal d’un missionaire au Texas et au Mexique, par l’abbe E. Domenech.

  • Rare Books Collection F391 .D65

Spanish

Villavicencio, Diego Jaime Ricardo. 1692. Luz, y methodo, de confesar idolatras, y destierro de idolatrias, debajo del tratado sigviente.

  • Rare Books Collection BX1750 .V65

Solórzano Pereira, Juan de. 1709. Politica indiana.

  • Rare Books Collection F1411 .S691
  • Translated from the Latin, De Indiarum jure (1639); first Spanish edition in 1648

Ulloa, Antonio de. 1748. Relacion historica del viage a la America Meridional hecho de orden de S. Mag. para medir algunos grados de meridiano terrestre, y venir por ellos en conocimiento de la verdadera figura, y magnitud de la tierra, con otras varias observaciones astronomicas, y phisicas.

  • Rare Books Collection QB291 .J92 v.1:pt.1
  • First edition; see also the English translation from 1806 by John Adams, A voyage to South America (Rare Book Collection F2221 .U428 v.1-2)

Real ordenanza para el establecimiento é instruccion de intendentes de exército y provincia en el reino de la Nueva-España. 1786.

  • Rare Books Collection K .M4 1786

Unanúe, José Hipólito. 1815. Observaciones sobre el clima de Lima y sus influencias en las seres organizados, en especial el hombre.

  • Rare Books Collection RA840.L7 U5
  • First published in 1806

Carta pastoral del illmô. señor d. fr. Bernardo del Espíritu Santo, dignísimo obispo de Sonora, á sus amados diocesanos. 1818.

  • Rare Books Collection BX1756 .C38

Bustamante, Carlos María de. 1823. Cuadro histórico de la revolucion de la América Mexicana, comenzada en quince de septiembre de mil ochocientos diez, por el ciudadano Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

  • Rare Books Collection F1232 .B95 v.1-5
Portion of book page with table with figures, in Spanish

Larrazábal, Antonio. 1848. Informe documentado, que, con ocasión de la provisión hecha de las dignidades y prebendas de esta S.I.M., produce en su M.I. y V. Cabildo, como Presidente que ha sido de él, y Dean que es hoy, Antonio Larrazábal, Obispo Electo de Comana, in partibus, relativamente al producto del diezmo; su inversion; y arreglo dado al archivo del ramo en particular, y al del mismo Cabildo, en general.

  • Rare Books Collection F1466 .L37
  • Printed in Guatemala

Cueves, Luis Gonzaga. 1849. Memoria del ministro de relaciones interiores y esteriores.

  • Rare Books Collection F1213 .M6365 1849a
  • Digitized item: Memoria

Santicilia, Pedro. 1859. Lecciones orales sobre la historia de Cuba, pronunciadas en el Ateneo democrático cubano de Nueva York.

  • Rare Books Collection F1779 .S23

Fornaris, José. 1862. Obras de José Fornaris.

  • Rare Books Collection PQ7389.F7 A1 1862 Vol. 1-2
  • Printed in Havana, Cuba

Orozco y Berra, Manuel. 1864. Geografia de las lenguas y carta etnografica de Mexico :precedidas de un ensayo de clasificacion de las mismas lenguas y de apuntes para las inmigraciones de las tribus.

  • Rare Books Collection F1219 .O74
  • Printed in Mexico

Casas, Bartolomé de las. 1875. Historia de las Indias, escrita por fray Bartolomé de las Casas, obispo de Chiapa ahora por primera vez dada á luz por el Marqués de la Fuensanta del Valle y Don José Sancho Rayón.

  • Rare Books Collection F1411 .C467 v.1-5
  • First published edition; manuscript dates to the 16th century

Portuguese

Rebouças, André Pinto. 1883. Agricultura nacional: estudos economicos: propaganda abolicionista e democratica, setembro de 1874 a setembro de 1883.

  • Rare Books Collection HD1872 .R42 1883

Dutch

Simons, G. J. 1868. Beschrijving van het eiland Curaçou, uit verschillende bronnen bijeenverzameld.

  • Rare Books Collection F2049 .S5 1868x

Latin

Gobeo de Victoria, Padre. 1647. Joannis Bisselii è Societate Jesu, Argonauticon Americanorum, sive Historiae periculorum Petri de Victoria ac sociorum ejus. libri XV.

  • Rare Books Collection E143 .V64
  • Translated from the German by Johannes Bissel, which itself was translated from the unpublished Spanish original

19th Century Travel Narratives in English

Brief citations are given for works by country or territory on the map below. See the list above for full citations, including call numbers.

Maps

Map of the region, 17th-19th centuries, listed chronologically by region. For a complete list of older world and western hemisphere maps, see the guide to the Rare Maps Collection. For more modern maps, search Scout.

Featured Maps

Carey, Henry C., and Isaac Lea. Geographical, Statistical and Historical Map of Brazil. Philadelphia, 1823.

An early map of independent Brazil. From Carey and Lea’s Atlas. 21 x 16.5 inches.

Homen de Mello, F. J. M., baron. Carta Physica do Brazil Mostrando os Systhemas Orographico e Hydrographico D’Esta Regiao. Rio de Janeiro, 1875.

An early work by one of Brazil’s leading mapmakers. 31 x 26.5 inches.

Chase, Ernest Dudley. The Good Neighbor Pictorial Map of South America. Winchester, Mass., 1942.

An illustrated map from the World War II era, designed to highlight the relationship between South America and the U.S. Signed copy. 28 x 21.5 inches.

Other Maps

Western Hemisphere

Jansson, Jan. 1647. America Septentrionalis.

  • Rare Maps G3300 1647 .J3x
  • North America, the Caribbean, Central America, and part of South America (parts of Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana)

Sanson, Nicolas. 1690s? Amerique Septentrionale: divisée en ses principales parties, ou sont distingués les vns des autres les etats suivant qu’ils appartiennent presentem et aux François, Castillans, Anglois, Suedois, Danois, Hollandois.

  • Rare Maps G3300 1690z .S3x
  • North America, the Caribbean, and Central America, with part of northern South America (parts of Venezuela, Colombia)

Central America

A Draft of the Golden &c adjacent Islands: with part of ye Isthmus of Darien as it was taken by Capt. Ienefer where ye Scots West-India Company were setteled; A New map of ye Isthmus of Darien in America, The Bay of Panama, The Gulph of Vallona or St. Michael, with its Islands & countries adjacent. 1721.

  • Rare Maps G4870 1721 .D7x
  • Costa Rica, Panama, parts of Nicaragua, Columbia
Map of modern Panama and surrounding territory, 1721

Moll, Herman. 1699?. The Scots settlement in America called New Caledonia, A.D. 1699.

  • Rare Maps G4872 .C25 1699 .M6x
  • Parts of Panama, Columbia

Central America & Caribbean

Mercator, Michael. 1595. America siue India Nova ad magnae Gerardi Mercatoris aut Vniversalis imitationem in compendium redacta.

  • Rare Maps G3290 1595 .M47x
  • Western Hemisphere; includes three insets: (1) Gulf of Mexico (east coast of Mexico); (2) Cuba; (3) Hispaniola.

Senex, John. 1712. A new map of the English Empire in the Ocean of America or West Indies.

  • Rare Maps G4900 1712 .H3x
  • Five images: (1) Central America, Caribbean, parts of North America, South America; (2) Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda); (3) St. Kitts (St. Kitts and Nevis); (4) Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago); (5) Jamaica

Bowen, Emanuel. 1738. An accurate map of the West Indies: exhibiting not only all the Islands possessed by the English, French, Spaniards & Dutch, but also all the towns and settlements on the continent of America adjacent thereto.

  • Rare Maps G4900 1738 .B6x
  • Central America, Caribbean, parts of North America, South America

Caribbean

Hondius, Jodocus, and Gerardus Mercator. 1606? Cuba Insula; Hispaniola Insula.

  • Rare Maps G4900 1606 .M4x
  • Five images: (1) Cuba; (2) Hispaniola; (3) Jamaica; (4) Puerto Rico [Ins. S. Ioannis = St. John]; (5) Margarita Island (Venezuela)
Sheet with five maps, including modern Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and St. Margarita, 1606

Bodenehr, Gabriel. 1720? Neuer plan der stadt ū hafens Havana.

  • Rare Maps G4924 .H3 1720 .B6x
  • Cuba

Delisle, Guillaume. 1722. Carte de l’Isle de Saint Domingue.

  • Rare Maps G4930 1722 .L57x
  • Hispaniola

Moll, Herman. 1732. The island of Jamaica, divided into its principal parts, with the roads, etc.

  • Rare Maps G4960 1732 .M6x
  • Jamaica

Moll, Herman. 1732. The island of St. Christophers alias St. Kitts.

  • Rare Maps G5040 1732 .M6x
  • St. Kitts (St. Kitts and Nevis)

Moll, Herman. 1732. The island of Antego.

  • Rare Maps G5050 1732 .M6x
  • Antigua (Antigua and Barbuda)

Bowen, Thomas. 1778. A map of the Island of Dominica taken from an actual survey: also part of Martinico and Guadalupe showing their true bearing and distance from each other.

  • Rare Maps G5100 1778 .B6x
  • Guadeloupe (French Antilles), Dominica, Martinique (French Antilles)

Jefferys, Thomas. 1775. Bequia or Becouya, the northermost of the Granadilles, surveyed in 1763.

  • Rare Maps G5122 .B4 1763 .J41 1775x
  • Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines)

Bellin, Jacques Nicolas. 1758? Carte de l’isle de la Grenade: pour servir à l’Histoire générale des voyages. Par M. B., ing. de la marine.

  • Rare Maps G5130 1758 .B4x
  • Grenada

Moll, Herman. 1721. Nieuwe kaart van het eyland Barbados behelzende alle deszelfs Dorpen en voors naamste Plantasien, mitsgaders Schanzen, Linien Batteryen en Wegen.

  • Rare Maps G5140.B2 1721 M66x
  • Barbados

Caribbean & South America

Kitchin, Thomas. 1759. An accurate map of the Caribby Islands, with the Crowns, &c. to which they severally belong.

  • Rare Maps G4900 1759 .K5x
  • Caribbean, part of Venezuela

South America

Ortelius, Abraham. 1574. Americae sive novi orbis nova descriptio.

  • Rare Maps G3290 1574 .O7 F5x
  • Three images: (1) Peruviae auriferae regionis typus [Peruvian gold-bearing region] (Peru, Colombia, Ecuador; parts of Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina); (2) La Florida (Gulf Coast of North America, Bahamas); (3) Guastecan (northeast Mexico)
Map of the west coast of Central America and South America down to the Tropic of Capricorn, 1574

Moll, Herman. 1732. A map of Chili [sic], Patagonia, La Plata and ye south part of Brasil.

  • Rare Maps G5200 1732 .M6x
  • Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay