Afonso de Albuquerque’s pre-Portuguese ‘Javanese’ map, partially reconstructed from Francisco Rodrigues’ book

Abstract

IntroductionThe existence of pre-Portuguese maps in the Indonesian Archipelago is wel1 attested.Ludovico de Varthema, a Bolognese who travelled in Southeast Asia a few years before the arrival of the Portuguese, mentioned in passing that the pilot of the ship that took him from Brunei to Java in about 1505 used a compass or lodestonel and a large navigational map on which there were many lines indicating the winds.Kamusio described this map as having 'lines al1 over, perpendicular and across' (Wieder 1918:229).Afonso de Albuquerque, the second Governor of India, in his letter to King Manuel of Portugal of I April 151 2 gave a detailed description of a Javanese map2, appending hum pedaço de padram (a piece of map) copied from the original by Francisco Rodrigues.About 1514 Tomé Pires mentioned indigenous3 charts as an important source of information for his Suma Oriental, though less so for cartographic and navigational purposes as they lacked rhumb lines.With the progress of Portuguese surveying and cartography, many such older charts disappeared through sheer neglect.Others may have been deliberately destroyed following the secrecy enjoined by Dom Manuel by Royal Decree of 13th November 1504 with respect to al1 maps, charts and log-books connected with navigation south of the equator.Not a single l The use of the magnetic needle in Chinese navigation is on record since the eleventh century, and is referred to in Arab sources since 1282 (Teixeira da Mota 1963:60-62).This map wil1 be referred to in the present article as 'Javanese' for no other reasons than that Albuquerque acquired it from a Javanese pilot, that its labels were in Javanese characters, and that he had had these explained by a (second?)Javanese.The term '(Muslim) indigenous' here is my translation of Port.'mouro'.Teixeira da Mota (1963:89) implied that Pires was referring to Arab maps.J.H.F.SOLLEWIJN GELPKE is a retired civil servant who graduated from the University of Leiden.He has specialized in the history of New Guinea and the Moluccas before AD 1600 and has previously published 'On the Origin of the Name Papua', Bijdragen tor de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde 149-11, 1993, and 'The Report of Miguel Roxo de Brito of his Voyage in 1581-1582 to the Raja Ampat, the MacCluer Gulf and Seram', Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde 150-1, 1994.His address is:

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