MA
PMAKING BY
THE LAST FLEET OF NEW SPAIN (1776
-
1778)
:

PRODUCTION AND DISSEMINATION OF CARTOGRAPHIC AND GEOGRAPHIC
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE
EA
ST
ERN
NOVO
-
HISPANIC COAST

C
ARMEN
G
IL
-
D
E
-
A
RRIBA
1

Recebido: 17/06/2025. Aceite: 04/09/2025. Publicado: 02/09/2026.

Carmen Gil de Arriba:
carmen.gil@unican.es

1
Departmento de Geografia, Urbanismo y Ordenación del Territorio, Universidad de Cantabria (Spain), ETSI de Caminos, Canales y
Puertos, Avenida de Los
Castros 44, E
-
39005
,
Santander, Espanha.

ABSTRACT
–
During the Enlightenment, the idea of scientific and political progress was
closely
related to geographic
knowledge. In this context, in the second half of the
18th
century, significant cartographic and geographic advances were made
in Hispanic America, especially regarding its coasts. As a
geo
-
historically dated social construction, this cartography reflects
the political, military, economic and religious powers
then active
in the American territory. In
deed
, military engineers and
officers in the Spanish Royal Navy contributed to
those
cartographic advances through their practical experience and surveys,
which were used,
together with
Creole knowledge, to improve previous work, to make later smaller
-
scale maps, to support
shipbuilding projects and facilitate communications by sea
across
vast portions of Hispanic territories.
With
an eminently
practical purpose and subjected to colonial political and economic interests, they succeeded in producing and disseminating
geographic knowledge. This
article
studies the specific case of the
Atlantic
coast of New Spain during the stay of Antonio de
Ulloa and members of the last
Spanish
Fleet of the Indies
to
connect the ports of
Cadiz
and Veracruz, between July 1776 and
January 1778.

Keywords:
H
istorical
cartography;
h
istor
ical
G
eography
of
coast
s
; maritime routes;
geographical
interconnections.

RESUMO
–
A
CARTOGRAFIA
DA
ÚLTIMA
FROTA
DA
NOVA
ESPANHA
(1776-1778).
PRODUÇÃO
E
DIFUSÃO
DE
CONHECIMENTOS
CARTOGRÁFICOS
E
GEOGRÁFICOS
SOBRE
AS
COSTAS
LESTE
NOVO-
HISPÂNICAS.
Durante
o
Iluminismo,
a
ideia
de
progresso
científico
e
político
estava
amplamente
relacionada
com
o
conhecimento geográfico. Neste contexto, na segunda metade do século XVIII na América Latina, ocorreram significativos
avanços cartográficos e geográficos, em particular no que diz respeito às suas costas. Enquanto construção social datada geo-
historicamente, estes avanços cartográficos são reflexo dos poderes políticos, militares, econômicos e religiosos inscritos no
território americano. Oficiais e engenheiros militares da Armada Espanhola contribuíram para essas melhorias cartográficas a
partir
de
trabalhos
de
reconhecimento
e
experiências
práticas,
utilizadas,
assim
como
o
conhecimento
de
colaboradores
crioulos,
para
melhorar
trabalhos
prévios,
elaborar
mapas
em
menor
escala,
apoiar
projetos
de
estaleiros
e
facilitar
as
comunicações por mar entre amplas porções do território hispânico. A partir de uma finalidade eminentemente prática, sujeita
aos interesses políticos e econômicos coloniais, conseguiu-se a produção e difusão de conhecimentos geográficos. Este artigo
analisa de forma específica o caso das costas atlânticas da Nova Espanha durante a estada de Antonio de Ulloa e os restantes
membros da última Frota espanhola das Índias que efetuou o percurso entre Cadiz e Veracruz, entre julho de 1776 e janeiro de
1778.

 

Palavras-chave:
Cartografia histórica; Geografia histórica de costas; rotas marítimas; interconexões geográficas.

HIGHLIGHTS

Finisterra
,
LXI
(131), 2026, e44868
ISSN: 0430-5027
doi: 10.18055/Finis44868
Artigo de Investigação
Published under the terms and conditions of an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
  1. 1.
    INTRODUCTION

In
the
second
half
of
the
18
th
century,
during
the
Enlightenment,
significant
cartographic
and
geographic advances were made in Hispanic America, especially regarding its coasts. Over this period, the
idea
of
scientific
and
political
progress
was
closely
related
to geographic
knowledge
(Heffernan,
1994;
Livingstone & Withers, 1999). As a social construction (Harley, 2001), this
18
th
century cartography reflects
the political, military, economic and religious powers in the American territory at that time.

The present study is
set
in the final
period
of the
Spanish
Fleet of the Indies
(Flota de Indias)
. This
navigation system, maintained for over two hundred and fifty years, was about to disappear owing to the
liberali
s
ation of trade with America promulgated by the Regulation and royal customs for free trade from
Spain to the Indies, on 12 October 1778 (Pérez Herrero, 1987). In this setting of the transformation of the
functioning of the Spanish Empire, which was interco
nnected by
sea
, this study focuses on the cartographic
production of Fleet officers
under the command of
Antonio de Ulloa from 1776 to 1778, participants in the
last Fleet of the Indies to connect
C
a
diz
with Veracruz.

Spanish
military
engineers
and
naval
officers
played
an
outstanding
part
in
the
production
and
dissemination of cartographic and geographic knowledge of the coasts of America (
Capel Sáez
et al
., 1988;
Moncada, 2018). These officers contributed to the transmission of the idea of scientific progress with the
information they obtained in their transoceanic voyages and during
surveys
in America (Alonso
Báquer
,
1972; Moncada, 1993). In addition, the Atlantic circuit played a role in the transmission of ideas of human
progress (Lambert
et al
., 2006).

In his book about the representation of nature in the New World, Caraccioli (2021) argues that colonial
Latin
America
was
fundamental
in
the
development
of
modern
political
thought,
through
the
singular
overlapping of politics, science and faith. For Carac
cioli, the scientific advances made in America in the
Enlightenment were based on previous political, philosophical and theological discussions in Europe. This
emphasises the major role of America in international geopolitics in the
18
th
century.

In fact, the New World offered formidable potential for scientific development (García
-
Martín, 2018)
that, however, posed
clear
conflicts with the interests of material exploitation. Additionally, following the
approach of Caraccioli (2021), the study in Hispanic America of the
geo
-
historical relations between political
theories and science can help to understand the later emergence of significant issues, such as the destruction
of
ecosystems
or
indigenous
and
anti
-
slavery
issues
(
Barrera
de
la
Torre
&
Torre
Villalpando,
2022;
Castañeda, 2002; Cowling, 2018
; Menjívar, 2006; Nemser, 2017;
Urteaga, 1987
).

  1. 2.
    GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
    1. 2.1.
      Sources and methodological approach of the research

This art
i
cle aims to contribute to the study of
geographical and
historical processes
in
the
acquisition
of
knowledge and understanding of the territory of Hispanic America during the Enlightenment. To be
precise, the research focuses
on
the coasts of New Spain in the second half of the
18
th
century
, through a
cri
tical
re
view of the cartography of the east
ern
Novo
-
Hispanic
coast
produced
by the
military engineers and
officers who
worked under the orders of Ullo
a in 1776 and 1778
.

Therefore, the sources used for this purpose include the plans, nautical charts and hydrographic maps
drawn by those
professional
s
. The main
purpose
of their production was
to
defen
d
the strategic Spanish
possessions governed by the
Bourbon
monarchy against foreign powers and to support the organisation and
control of
New Spain
. In their work, the mappers used information
from
several
Creole
cartographers.

Moreover
,
the
work
of
these
military
professionals,
who
underwent
strict
academic
training,
contributed to the dissemi
nation of geographic knowledge
within the geographic and geodesic advances
of
the
time.
C
onsequen
tly
, their
plans and charts are related to the history of geographic thought and can be
framed within the field of historical geography (Moncada, 2003). Scientific and technical progress was the
key to the development of increasingly precise cartography and this, in
turn, to a better understanding of the
Americas
.

The main part of the present study, focused on the years 1776 to 1778, is based on the cartographic
and documentary sources related to the stay of the last Fleet of the Indies, commanded by Ulloa, on the
eastern coasts of New Spain. In order to contextuali
se the study, a wider documentary and cartographic record
was established from that initial search of sources.

Gil de Arriba, C.
Finisterra,
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(131), 2026, e44868
2
    1. 2.2.
      Crossing the Atlantic:
      The
      Spanish
      Fleet of the Indies and the Fleet of New Spain in the
      18th
      century

This general
collection
of sources
was assembled
indirectly through the literature
and
directly in
archives such as the
Archivo General de la Nación de México
(Naval Collection), the
Archivo General de
Simancas
,
Archivo General de Indias
, Madrid Naval Museum, Spanish National Library and the library of
the
Real Academia de la Historia
, whose catalogues and collections are now largely accessible
online
.
Using
this
material, a database was created to synthesise the information and select the most significant texts, maps
and
plans
that
would
allow
an
interpretation
of
the
logic
and
interconnection
of
the
documents
and
cartographic materials
. This selection is
discussed throughout
the article. Their chronological correspondence
with the period of study and the spatial and historical relevance of the places, projects and activities were
among
the criteria used
for
their selection.

The primary documentary sources include minutes of official dispatches, such as the one Bucareli sent
to Ulloa on 12
September
1776,
reporting that
Miguel del Corral and Joaquín de Aranda
were
travelling from
Mexico City to Veracruz to map the Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos rivers, letters like those Ulloa sent to the
captain of the Port of Veracruz between April and October 1777, and such documents as the one dated
between March and August 1
7
77 about the most favourable times and conditions for the Fleet’s return from
the port of Veracruz to Spain.

Four types of cartographic sources can be differentiated: topographic maps of large areas of land and
sea (such as those in
f
igs. 2 and 6); maritime navigation and routeing charts (
f
igs. 1 and 7); nautical charts
and hydrographic maps with their adjacent coasts (
f
igs. 3 and 4); and plans of cities and fortifications, like
that of Veracruz (
f
ig. 5). Several of these cartographic sources contain information that is not found in the
documentary sources and often locate specific places and geographic features mentioned in documents and
reports
more
precisely
(water
bodies,
rivers,
place
names,
et
c.).
This
combination
of
documentary
and
cartographic
sources
enables
an
understanding,
from
complementary
points
of
view,
of
historical
and
geographical processes of organisation and articulation of the territory in New Spain.

The
Spanish
Fleet of the Indies
was made up of a number of ships that followed different routes to
connect the American viceroyalties with Iberian Spain, from the first decades of the sixteenth century to
1778. It was a complex system for the control and defence of the maritime trade of
the kingdom of Spain, in
the Iberian Peninsula, with its overseas territories, and formed
a
key
element of
the Spanish colonial maritime
monopoly.

The ships in the Fleet of the Indies
were
dependent on
two institutions: the Spanish Royal Navy and
the Royal Consulate of the Shippers of the Indies. The latter was founded in 1543 by the
cargadores
or
shippers
, that is to say important merchants or wholesaler
s
who loaded large volumes of raw materials and
manufactured products in what was called the Career of the Indies between Spain and America (
Díaz, 2018;
Rodríguez
-
Lorenzo, 2016). This commercial monopoly was organised by the Contracting House which was
based first in Seville and then in
Cadiz
(after May 1717) (Crespo, 2018). To supervise those activities, the
Spanish monarchy depended on the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, with a legal and executive
function but without a fixed headquarters or centre. In the
18
th
century this Council of the Indies underwent
major reforms commissioned by the Bourbon monarchy (Escudero, 2005).

The Fleet of New Spain for that viceroyalty was established in the sixteenth century (Egoávil, 2023).
By the late
18
th
century, the viceroyalty controlled large areas of Central and North America, as well as the
island of Luzón and its capital Manila, in the Philippines. They were divided administratively into a complex
division of Captaincy Generals (Yucatán, Santo Domin
go, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Cuba and Philippines),
General Commands (in the east, with the provinces or governorships of Alta and Baja California, Nueva
Navarra, Nuevo México (Barrett, 2012) and Nueva Vizcaya, and in the west with Nueva Philipinas, Nueva
Extremadura,
Nuevo
León
and
Nuevo
Santander)
and
Kin
gdoms
(the
Kingdom
of
Mexico
included
Veracruz, Puebla, Oaxaca and San Luis de Potosí while the Kingdom of Nueva Galicia was made up of
Zatecas and Guadalajara) (Gerhard, 1972)
i
.

Since 1717, the Fleet of the Indies had sailed from the port of
Cadiz
, after the Contracting House and
the Consulate of Shippers of the Indies moved there from Seville (Iglesias, 2017). In 1743, the Marquis of
Ensenada, Zenón de Somodevilla y Bengoechea, was named head of the Ministries of State, Finance, War,
Navy and the
Indies, which involved major reforms in the regulation of trade with the Indies. They included
measures to reduce contraband and fraud in the export of foreign goods from
Cadiz
and to increase control
over custom
s
duties (Heredia, 2022).

The routes used for those voyages and the positions of the merchant and war ships were
recorded
in
numerous sea charts, formed by general maps and detailed plans that accompanied and illustrated the ships’

Gil de Arriba, C.
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(131), 2026, e44868
3

logs of squadron leaders and captains. One example is the map sent by the captain José Montero de Espinosa
to the Marquis of Ensenada in a letter dated 23 April 1748, explaining the courses taken between
Cadiz
and
Madeira (
f
ig.
1). The map gives a schematic representation of the south
-
west coast of the Iberian Peninsula,
the north
-
west of Africa, the south
-
east coast of North America, the Gulf of Mexico and the islands of Cuba
and Hispaniola. The lower part shows the positions o
f the Spanish ships and the English squadron seen on
18 March of the same year.

Fig. 1
–
Reduced chart of the courses followed in the lines of direction and return from the Bay of
Cadiz
. Logbook of the
Captain and commander of the ship El Neptuno, Don José Montero de Espinosa, in a letter to the Marquis of Ensenada,
C
a
diz, 23 April 1748.

Fig. 1 – Carta reduzida ou abreviado mapa dos rumos executados nas linhas de direção e retorno da Baía de Cadiz. Diário
executado pelo Capitão de Navio e comandante do navío El Neptuno Don José Montero de Espinosa, em carta ao Marquês
de la Ensenada, Cádiz, 23 de abril de 1748.

Source: Ministerio de Cultura. Archivo General de Simancas.
MPD, 63, 043

After crossing the Atlantic, the Fleet of New Spain arrived at the port of Veracruz in the Gulf of
Mexico.
In addition
, f
rom 1565, although both routes were autonomous, the Manila Galleon, a group of ships
that sailed each year between New Spain and the Philippines (Manila)
,
provided
access to Asia without taking
the Portuguese route (i.e., sailing round Africa, the
Carreira da índia
) as had been agreed in the
Treaty of
Tordesillas
(1494)
. They left port from Acapulco and crossed the Pacific Ocean
.
In this way, for over two
centuries
a system of maritime communication
was established
on a world scale, which may be
cri
tically
interpreted as an early
globalisation
process because it connected the continents of Europe, America and Asia
by sea (Mombelli, 2018).

In this context,
it can be said
that
coasts,
seas and
oceans
constitute
d
a challenge
to geographical
conceptuali
zation
and
representations of the
world
.
Hence the interest
in
stud
ying
historical
cartography
and
the
geographical
thought
re
lated to these
features
.

From the
mid
-
18th
century, the Spanish elite in the maritime trade with America gradually adapted to
the liberali
s
ation process, which entailed a series of challenges to maintain
Cadiz
as the main commercial
port in the Iberian Peninsula (
Iglesias Rodríguez
et al
., 2022). Political
-
administrative changes and conflicts
in Europe worsened the crisis of the
Ancien Régime
, and
contributed to the spread
of liberal
ideas
and
,
subsequently,
to
the independence
movements
in America, which would be consolidated in the
19th
century.
In this regard, during the Enlightenment, the Atlantic Ocean acted as
conduit for
new scientific, economic,
political and social ideas from Europe to America and vice versa (Rodríguez, 2010).

Gil de Arriba, C.
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4

  1. 2.3.
    A prototype of
    an
    enlightened officer at the head of the las
    t
    Fleet of New Spain: Antonio de
    Ulloa
    and his
    geographical training

In connection with this general situation of change, several enlightened naval officers in the Spanish
Royal Navy made significant scientific progress in geography. Some of these officers were commanded by
Antonio de Ulloa
.

The Sevillian Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre Guiral (1716
-
1795) is known for taking part in his youth,
together with the naval engineer Jorge Juan y Santacilia, in the Franco
-
Hispanic Geodesic Mission to Quito
in
what was then the
Viceroyalty of Peru. This expedition took place from 1735 to 1746,
at
the proposal of
the
Académie Royale des Sciences
in Paris, in order to determine the exact shape of the Earth. As a result of
this expedition, Ulloa and Juan were commissioned by the Spanish Government to carry out a detailed
confidential diagnosis of the situation of those dominions of the Crown, as we
ll as the condition of the
indigenous populations, in order to put into practice a series of reforms.
The instigator behind the reforms
was the Marquis of Ensenada.
These were proposed in a manuscript in 1749
,
titled
Discurso y reflexiones
políticas sobre el estado presente de los Reinos del Perú, escritas de Orden del Rey Nuestro Señor. Por D.
Jorge Juan, […] y D. Antonio de Ulloa, miembros de la Real Sociedad de Londres, socios correspondientes
de la Academia Real de
las Ciencias de Paris y capitanes de navío de la Real Armada
[
Archivo del Museo
Naval de Madrid
: AMN Ms.0483].

The contents and their critical analysis, the reflection of enlightened discontent (Silva, 2017), came to
light nearly a century later, in the Spanish text published in London in 1826 by the editor David Barry
, with
the title
Noticias secretas de América sobre el estado naval, militar, y político de los reinos de Perú y
provincias de Quito, costas de Nueva Granada y Chile.
Gobierno y régimen particular de los pueblos de
indios. Cruel opresión y extorsión de sus corregidores y curas: abusos escandalosos introducidos entre estos
habitantes por los misioneros. Causas de su origen y motivos de su continuación por espacio de tres
siglos
(
Press of R. Taylor
)
.
New versions would later
appear
and achieve lasting notoriety
for their criticism of
the
Spanish coloni
s
ation of America
, like the one titled
Noticias secretas de América (siglo XVIII)
(
Editorial
América, 1918) by the Venezuelan writer Rufino Blanco Fombona (1874
-
1944).

The promotion of Ulloa in the Spanish Royal Navy was due to his scientific work, recognised by
institutions like the Royal Society of London, of which Ulloa was a member. In Spain he was a driving force
behind the
Real Casa de la Geografía y Gabinete de Historia Natural
, founded in Madrid in 1752, as an
antecedent of the Royal Museum of Natural Sciences (Calatayud, 1986). In addition, from 1766 to 1768 he
was the Governor of Louisiana.

Ulloa was at the head of the Fleet of New Spain, as commander or squadron leader, between 8 May
1776 when the Fleet sailed from
Cadiz
and 29 July 1778 when it returned to that port. It was the
18
th
Fleet
to make that voyage in the
18th
century, but above all, it was the last Fleet of the Indies to connect the Iberian
Peninsula
with
the
American
viceroyalties
(
Newton,
1987;
Walker,
1979).
The
royal
order
liberalising
maritime traffic with America was published on 12 October 1778, three months after the Fleet’s return to the
port of
Cadiz
(Bernal, 1987). From then onwards, it was no longer compulsory to form Fleets for transoceanic
trade and the monopoly of the port of
Cadiz
disappeared at the same time
. This liberalisation benefitted
different ports in the Iberian Peninsula, like Santander, which began its urban expansion (Pozas, 2015).

In 1776, Ulloa was
60
years old, with a long history in science but little experience in leading maritime
convoys (Ferragut, 2017). Despite this, the Fleet he commanded transported one of the heaviest loads to cross
from
Cadiz
to Veracruz in the
18th
century (Lang, 1998). It was formed by
15
merchant ships and two ships
of the Royal Navy; the flagship, the
España
, captained by José de Urrutia, on which Ulloa sailed, and the
rearguard ship, the
Dragón
(Vázquez de Prada, 1968
).

After passing the Canary Islands on 18 May and crossing the Atlantic below 20°N latitude, the ships
followed the course to the north of Hispaniola, entered the Caribbean Sea by the Windward Passage and
advanced along the Yucatán Channel. They reached Verac
ruz on 25 and 26 July 1776 (Orte
-
Lledó, 2006).
When Ulloa set off in 1776, the viceroy of New Spain was the military officer Antonio María de Bucareli,
appointed to
the post in 1771, after being the head of the Captaincy General in Cuba. As viceroy (1771
-
1779), Bucareli conceived several naval projects for New Spain. One of the most significant was the creation
of a navigable canal between the oceans through the Isth
mus of Tehuantepec (Tlacxani
-
Segura, 2022), to
improve the connection between the so
-
called North Sea and South Sea (Atlantic and Pacific Oceans).
He
also proposed founding a shipyard
near
the port of San Blas on the coast of Nueva Galicia (and later the
Intendencia
of Guadalajara) on the Pacific to encourage navigation on the west coast of New Spain, repair
damaged ships and maintain an operative base to limit the expansion of Russian and English powers on the
northern part of that coas
t.
The maritime department of San Blas was founded in 1768. The choice of the

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5

location was due to the existence of cedar, ebony and other
timber
suitable for
shipbuilding
on the banks of
the River Santiago, which flowed into the sea a short distance to the north of San Blas (Pardo, 2008).
Bucareli
was also interested in reinforcing the port of Veracruz, the most important in New Spain, on the Gulf of
Mexico, and finding an appropriate site on its coasts for a shipyard.

For all this, the viceroy
relied
on Ulloa
s
support
, who had witnessed
shipbuilding
techniques at the
French bases of Toulon, Rochefort, Lorient and Brest as well as at Prussian ports and arsenals (López
-
Vázquez,
2020). He
had also
taken
part
in
the
renovation
of
Spanish
maritime
bases,
especially
in
the
construction of the arsenal at Ca
rtagena on the Mediterranean coast of Spain (Camarero, 1993) and at the
shipyard
and
arsenal
of
La
Carraca
in
Cadiz
(Quintero,
2005).
Moreover,
the
multifaceted
Ulloa
had
participated in the work on the Canal of Castile (Helguera, 1995).
’

Against this background
, during the nearly eighteen months of his sojourn in New Spain, Ulloa worked
with the officers in his Fleet to draw sea charts, plans of coastal towns and hydrographic maps of the Novo
-
Hispanic
Atlantic
coast, especially of the port of Veracruz and surrounding area. Ulloa was equally interested
in aspects of the geography, natural history, pre
-
Hispanic antiquities, mining, metallurgy and botany. He
collected data using a questionnaire authorised by the Mi
nistry of Indies
and then drafted, following the
previous tradition but including new methods and knowledge, a geographic
account
or description
,
of which
several handwritten copies
survive
. Their contents
, published in Veracruz (Ulloa, 1777),
are structured in
three geographic areas: settlements in the area around Veracruz and Guanajuato
,
the journey from Guanajuato
to Pachuca, and Mexico City, the capital of New Spain.

One of these undated copies would form part of the compilation of documents made by the scribe Juan
Bautista Muñoz y Ferrandis, named Higher Cosmographer of the Indies by King Charles III of Spain in 1770
and given the task of organising the General Archiv
e of the Indies (
Archivo General de Indias
) in 1784. This
copy of Ulloa’s list, preserved in the Royal Academy of History in Madrid
,
was used by Francisco Solano
(
1979
)
together with the correspondence between Ulloa and Bucareli.

  1. 3.
    GEOGRAPHIC DATA AND CARTOGRAPHIC METHODS
    ,
    THE
    CHANGING VIEW OF
    THE ENLIGHTENMEN
    T
    1. 3.1.
      Hispanic America in
      cartography
      in the
      18th
      century: the main precedents
      of the
      work of
      engineers and officers under the orders of Ulloa

The circulation, revision and correction of
the
cartography of America during the
18
th
century, in
connection with scientific and mathematical advances (
Capel Sáez
et al.
, 1982), can be regarded as evidence
of the global exchange of ideas and
geographic
knowledge (Pinzón, 2022). At the same time, these maps
were representations of power (Harley, 2001) and part of the imperial policy of the Spanish Crown, used to
influence or increase commercial activities between Iberian Spain and the different viceroyalt
ies.

As regards Hispanic cartographers, in 1764, Juan de la Cruz Cano, who had trained in France, began
work
his well
-
known
Geographical Map of South America
, on the commission of the first Secretary of State
of the Spanish Crown, Jerónimo Grimaldi, when they were attempting to define the boundaries between
Spanish and Portuguese territories. After several modifications, the work finished in 1775. Among other
information, the studies and astronomic
al
observations of Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa during their
aforementioned expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru were used to create the map.

In the case of the Spanish possessions in North America, maps had been made between 1746 and 1768
by two Creoles born in New Spain, Antonio Villaseñor
(born
in San Luis de Potosí)
and José Antonio de
Alzate
(born
in Ozumba)
ii
.
The latter
map
was “dedicated to the Wise Members of the Royal Academy of
Science in Paris” who published it in 1775. To be precise, in the time of the viceroy Juan Francisco de
Güemes (1746
-
1755), Villaseñor’s map of New Spain (
f
i
g.
2) covered from 16°N to 34°N latitude and from
263° to 289° longitude from the meridian of the island of Hierro
,
the westernmost of the Canary Islands
and
one of the first and
most used
meridians, in order to set the longitude of any place, from the sixteenth century
until the late
19th
century (International Meridian Conference, held in Washington in 1884), when the use of
the Greenwich meridian became widespread.

Villaseñor’s map
included the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from the Apalachee territory on the coast
of Florida, the western point of the island of Cuba, the coast of Honduras and the Yucatán Peninsula. The
part corresponding to the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) covered part o
f the peninsula of Baja California and the
Sea of Cortés (Gulf of California) to Guatulco (Huatulco), near where three decades later Bucareli would
propose the construction of the Tehuantepec Canal to connect the Pacific and the Atlantic.

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This part of the isthmus was strategic for the Spanish Crown, because it was scarcely inhabited, distant
from Veracruz and Mexico City, and intricate because of the abundance of water courses, natural canals and
coastal lagoons.

Fig.
2
–
Geographical Map of North America.
José Antonio de Villaseñor
, ca. 1746
.

Fig. 2 – Mapa Geográfico da América do Norte, ca. 1746.

Source:
Archivo General de Indias. MP-MEXICO, 161

The map drawn in 1768, when Carlos Francisco de Croix was viceroy (1766
-
1771), by the priest
Alzate covered from 13°N to 42°N latitude and from 249° to 285° longitude from the Hierro meridian. This
map,
of
which
different
versions
are
known
(García
-
Redondo
,
2021),
mentions
the
Province
of
Texas
(
Provincia de los Texas
) for the first time, although the whole territory of Louisiana, whose name appears on
the map, was left blank.

This French possession had been ceded to Spain in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, in compensation for
the losses in the confrontation with England and motivated by the so
-
called Family Pact between the French
and
Spanish
monarchy.
As
noted
above,
Ulloa
was
th
e
governor
of
Louisiana
from
1766
to
1768.
Furthermore, on Alzate’s map, the coast of the Gulf of Mexico was traced as far down as Campeche and
Términos
Lagoon but
does not include the Yucatán Peninsula as Villaseñor’s map had done. On the Pacific
coast, Alzate added the whole peninsula and Gulf of California, although from 32°/34°N (port of Todos
Santos and port of San Diego) the coastline is imprecise and, as the
map itself states, the delineation of this
coast “has been drawn by the only reconnaissance made of it in the year 1602 by Sebastián Viscayno”
(Rodríguez
-
Sala, 1995).

In
1770,
also
during
the
viceroyalty
of
Carlos
Francisco
de
Croix,
the
military
engineer
Miguel
Constanzó
or Costanzó
(Moncada 1994 & 2012), author of the 1768 plan of the port and new town of San
Blas, drew the Reduced Chart of the Asiatic Ocean or South Sea, which was engraved in Madrid by Tomás
López in 1771. This encompasses from 20° to 43°N latitude and from 242° to
268° longitude west of the
Tenerife meridian, also called the Teide meridian.

It goes up the Pacific coast
from Cabo Corrientes
to the south of the port of San Blas, and further north
includes the whole peninsula of California, including the Gulf of California or Sea of Cortés. Above the
isthmus of California, the Bay of Todos Santos is in the centre of the map, and is followed by
the ports of
San Diego, Monterrey and San Francisco. As the map states, it was drawn based on previous documents,
mainly the observations in the logbooks of pilots in the Royal Navy: those of Vicente Vila and Juan Pérez,
who took part in Gaspar de Pórtola
’s expedition
(Costanzó
, 1770).

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  1. 3.2.
    Geographic surveying during the stay of the Fleet in New Spain:
    the
    Gulf of Mexico and the
    Atlantic Ocean as laboratories of scientific
    geographical
    experiences

As stated above, from the beginning of the
18
th
century, military engineers and officers had been sent
to the American territory to make maps, construct ports and forts, repair roads, etc. Many of them were
graduates of the College of Military Engineers of Barcelona, opened in 1752, in order to train o
fficers for the
Royal Corps of Engineers (
Capel Sáez
, 1983). Previously, the College of Guardiamarinas was created in
Cadiz
in 1717, as a scientific training centre, and the Royal Institute and Naval Observatory in 1753. All the
military engineers and officers who worked with Ulloa were related to both institutions (González, 2011).

Against this background, the data collected by Ulloa and officers in his Fleet aimed to complete and
improve the existing cartography, through new systematic hydrographic mapping and the detailed delineation
of different parts
of the coast
of the Gulf of Mexico
, using astronomic
al
observations and mathematic
al
calculations (Moncada, 1990). This was for both scientific and practical purposes; that is, for administrative
control and to facilitate navigation and commercial practices.

In correspondence from Ulloa to Bucareli, dated in Veracruz on 30 April 1777, he speaks of the
intention of creating “the hydrographic plan of the coast from here to the north”, “[…] that is very important
because the charts in this area are very faulty” (
Solano, 1979, pp. 265
-
266
, tra
n
slation of original Spanish
text
)
.

Novo
-
Hispanic ports and maritime enclaves were subjected to imperial policies, in accordance with
the
interests
of
the
home
country.
However,
the
ir
later
development
gradually
responded
to
their
own
physical, social and economic conditions (Ita, 2003). In 1776, Ignacio de Pazos, a trainee in the Royal School
of Navigation, following Ulloa’s instructions, had drawn a sea chart of the coast and port of
Veracruz,
destination of one of the major trade routes of the Spanish Crown. It was dated on 24 September of that year;
only two months after the Fleet had arrived at the port, which shows the speed with which the work was
carried out (
f
ig. 3).

Fig. 3
–
Nautical chart of Veracruz, 1776. Ignacio de Pazos on the orders of Ulloa.

Fig. 3 – Carta náutica de Veracruz, 1776. Ignacio de Pazos sob as diretrizes de Ulloa.

Source:
Biblioteca Nacional de España.
MR/43/119

The coastline, which is shaded, covers from the town of La Antigua or Old Veracruz, where the hill
of Zempoala is marked, to the so
-
called River Alvarado (Alvarado Lagoon). Nearly in the middle of the
chart,
between
Punta
Gorda
headland
and
Punta
de
Mocamb
o
headland,
at
19°10’N
latitude
and
276°
longitude west of the Tenerife meridian, New Veracruz is represented by its wall and bastions. Outside the
walls, the chapel of Holy Christ of the Good Voyage is drawn. To the south
-
east, the River Medellín (now
cal
led the River Jamapa) is located
halfway
towards the Headland of Antón Lizardo. Opposite New Veracruz,
the castle or fortress of San Juan de Ulúa was represented. Of this Ulloa would say in his
Descripción
geográfico
-
física de una parte de Nueva España
that it was “built on a placer
iii
that at low tide, the water
covered about a foot or a foot and a half, and at high tide, four to five, depending on whether the tide rises
more or less” (Solano, 1979, p. 18). Ulloa also noted that boats accessed the fortress of San Juan de Ulúa by
the
south
-
west, as it was impossible to reach it on the other sides. As nautical elements, the chart includes
soundings, anchorages and bars, and the main reefs and islands, as well as navigation courses.

During 1777, Sebastián Canel, frigate lieutenant and first pilot of the
Dragón
, the rearguard ship in
the Fleet, drew more sea charts and hydrographic maps of the coast of Veracruz,
at
Ulloa
’s request
. One of
them,
dated
in
September
and
structured
with
other
fragments,
extended
from
Tampico
and
Tamiagua

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(Tamiahua) lagoon
in the north to
the port of Veracruz, and the point and reefs of Antón Lizardo in the south
(
f
ig. 4).

Fig. 4
–
Hydrographic map from the Port of Veracruz to Tampico, 1777.
Sebastián Canel.

Fig. 4 – Mapa hidrográfico do Porto de Veracruz até Tampico. Sebastián Canel.

Source:
Biblioteca Nacional de España.
MR/43/11
7

This hydrographic map was accompanied by an inset with a long description of that part of the coast,
which in the stretch from Tampico to Veracruz was described as clean and nearly all of sand, forested with
dense shrubs and small trees. The abundance of s
treams was also noted and the fact that, on clear days, the
inland mountains were visible from the coast.
Throughout
1777
, along this stretch of the
Veracruz
coast
,
Canel drew specific sea charts of islands like Blanquilla Island at 21° 50’ N latitude, reefs like the one at
Tanhuijo at 21° 22’ N, and cliffs and bays like those at Bernal at 19° 42’ N. Previously, in June 1777, also
on the orders of Ulloa, Canel drew
the map of the port and city of Veracruz, showing the gates and defensive
bastions, the parish church, the Navy Hospital, the Town Hall (
Casa del Cabildo
) and Governor’s House,
several convents and squares and the Jesuit’s college. The Castle of San Juan de Ulúa stands out in the area
of the reef (
f
ig.
5).

Similarly, in the first half of 1777, Miguel del Corral, colonel in the
Corps of E
ngineer
s, and Joaquín
de Aranda, frigate captain and head pilot of the Fleet, were
appointed
by Ulloa to carry out a reconnaissance
of the sand banks at the mouths of the Rivers Alvarado (Papaloapan) and Coatzacoalcos, in the Gulf of
Mexico. Later, on Bucareli
’s the direct orders
, Corral and Aranda drew a map called
Descripción Geográfica
de parte de la costa del Seno de México
(Geographical Description of part of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico)
(
f
ig. 6). It covers the area of the isthmus between the so
-
called North and South Sea, from 15° to 20°N and
from 278° to 281° west of the Tenerife meridian. The map, dated 16 July 1777, shows all the rivers and hills
“placed with the greatest exactness by me
ans of several astronomic
al
observations”.

Before that, on 25 June, Ulloa had written to José Gálvez, Minister of the Indies, to inform him of his
arrival in Mexico City to direct the commission in charge of establishing the foundation of a shipyard on the
coast of Veracruz. In turn, José de Gálvez
sent a letter to Bucareli, dated in Madrid on 24 December 1777,
announcing the delivery of plans of ships and of a naval engineer to begin building the vessels in the most
appropriate place. The proposed location was Tlacotalpan (on the bank of the River
Papaloapan, next to its
mouth in the lagoon of Alvarado), where the soundings showed that it would be possible to build frigates for
thirty or forty cannons. The area was also suitable for a shipyard because the nearby hills could provide
timber for the s
hips.

Corral and Aranda’s map includes Tehuantepec lagoon on the South Sea (Pacific Ocean), from where
it was thought that the navigable canal connecting with the North Sea would start. It would make use of part
of the course of the River Coatzacoalcos, which ri
ses in the Sierra de Niltepec, in that strategic area of the
isthmus.

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Fig. 5
–
Plan of Vera Cruz, 1777.
Sebastián Canel.

Fig. 5 – Plan de Vera Cruz, 1777. Sebastián Canel.

Source:
Biblioteca Nacional de España.
MR/43/
23

After all these manuscript cartographic materials had been produced, the voyage home (
tornaviaje
)
took place. The Fleet left Veracruz on 16 January 1778 for Havana, nearly a year after the date that had
originally been set. Spain had been at war with Portugal (1776
-
1777) and Great Britain faced the rebellion
of its Thirteen Colonies in North America
(1775
-
1783).

Several ships and frigates captained by the general squadron commander, Juan Bautista Bonet, set sail
from Havana to await Ulloa’s Fleet and escort it to that port (Orte
-
Lledó, 2006). The rendezvous point was
Tortuga Bank (
Sonda de la Tortuga
), after passing Cape San Antonio. Convoys were frequently attacked in
this area in the
18
th
century
iv
. The two formations met on 8 February 1778 and entered Havana on the
thirteenth day of the month (
f
ig. 7).

Fig. 6
–
Geographical Description
covering
part of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, 1777.

Miguel del Corral and Joaquín de Aranda.

Fig. 6 – Descrição geográfica que inclui parte da costa do Golfo do México, 1777.
Miguel del Corral
e Joaquín de Aranda.

Source:
Biblioteca Nacional de España.
MR/43/
150

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Fig. 7
–
Manuscript plan of the course followed from Havana by Juan Bautista Bonet to meet Antonio de Ulloa’s Fleet
.

Fig. 7 – Plano manuscrito do trajeto seguido por Juan Bautista Bonet para encontrar a frota de Antonio de Ulloa.

Source:
Ministerio de Cultura. Archivo General de Simancas.
MPD, 52, 004

Sailing from Havana was delayed until 9 March and the Fleet did not reach Tenerife until 21 May,
74
days after leaving Havana and
125
days after they sailed from Veracruz. In the final stage of the voyage,
after
leaving
the
Canary
Islands,
on
24
June
1778,
Ulloa
and
his
collaborators
had
the
opportunity
to
participate in a novel astronomical experiment
,
the observation of a total
solar
eclipse,
recorded
for the first
time from the se
a
in one of the places with the best visibility
:
on the line between the Azores and North Africa
(Rabat
-
Salé)
.
More specifically, o
n the morning of the eclipse, Ulloa’s squadron was at latitude 37°14’N,
near the cape of San Vicente (Orte
-
Lledó, 2006).
Once they returned to Spain, the observations were sent to
different European scientific societies
and
t
he following year, Ulloa
(1779)
published his study
El eclipse de
sol con el anillo refractario de sus rayos
[
…
],
while
f
rom New Spain, the Creole astronomer Antonio de
León y Gama (1778) published the
Descripcion orthographica universal del eclipse de Sol
.
Observations of
eclipses of the sun and moon were useful to establish the latitude and especially the longitude of the main
ports and cities in America. However, it was not until the late
18th
century that precise
portable
marine
chronometers allowed an exact measurement of the time of sighting (Moreno, 1998).

  1. 4.
    GEOGRA
    PHIC
    RESULTS
    AND DISCUSSION
    O
    F
    THEIR RELEVANCE

The present study has shown how cartography and the gathering of geographic information are the
product of a given social and historical context and a form of knowledge linked to power and control over a
territory. Maps and plans also
reveal
the structures
within
which their creators interacted. In this way, the
sources used for the present research
reflect the prevailing ideas of the Enlightenment in the late
18
th
century,
marked by observation, utility and a practical sense
; i.e., a clearly geographical approach.

Cartographic advances made by Ulloa’s officers helped to
refine detailed
geographic
knowledge of
the
eastern
coast
of
New
Spain.
However,
none
of
the
main
strategic
coastal
and
watercourse
projects
supported by Bucareli materialised during his viceroyalty; neither the foundation of the shipyard on the coast
of Veracruz
n
or the construction of the difficult inter
-
oceanic canal, although proposals for
such a canal
continued during the
19
th
century: the inter
-
oceanic railway between Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz was built
at the end of the
19
th
century. President Porfirio Díaz opened the line officially in 1907 (Garner, 2005).

On the Pacific Ocean, the port of San Blas acted as a secondary port after Acapulco for the connection
with the Philippines (Pardo, 2008), although in the late
18th
century shipbuilding in the area was minimal.
Moreover, because the anchorage was so close to the mouth of the River Santiago, the accumulation of sand

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    1. 4.1.
      Consequences
      of the
      cartographic
      work carried out
      by
      Ulloa’s Fleet
      and its later influence
      :
      compilation and
      dissemination of
      geographic knowledge

washed down the river meant that, in certain times of the year, ships became stranded and vessels with a deep
draught could not enter the port
.

Despite these technical
difficulties in implementing
Bucareli’s
territorial
projects and the fragmentary
nature of the cartographic
material
, the surveying of the coastline and the manuscript plans derived from it
were later
used
to draw more extensive maps. Thus, when José de Gálvez’s nephew, Bernaldo de Gálvez,
was named viceroy of New Spain (1785
-
1786), the explorations of José de Hevia (or Evia) between Tampico
and Florida completed
geographic
knowledge of the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico (González
-
Ripoll, 2013).

Among the new general maps, the
Plano Geográfico de la mayor parte del Virreinato de Nueva
España
(Geographical Plan of Most of the Viceroyalty of New Spain) was finished in 1793 by the infantry
colonel Carlos de Urrutia. It had been commissioned in 1791 by the
then viceroy, Juan Vicente de Güemes
(1789 to 1794). It expressly mentions the chart drawn in 1777 by Miguel del Corral and Joaquín de Aranda
(
f
ig. 6) (Orozco, 1871). Urrutia also added information from Alzate’s 1768 map to his Geographical Plan
(Antochiw, 2000).

At the turn of the century, the hydrographic expedition of the Atlas of North America took place with
two brigantine divisions commanded by Cosme Damián Churruca and Joaquín Francisco Fidalgo. Once
more, the objective was to map the coasts of the Gulf of M
exico and the Antilles (Martín
-
Merás, 2007).

The cartographic and geographic contributions of Ulloa and his officers were also taken into account
in Alejandro Malaspina and José Bustamente’s expedition in 1789
-
1794
v
, when cartographic surveys were
carried out by such sailors and mapmakers as Dionisio Alcalá Galiano, José Espinosa, Antonio Pineda,
Ciríaco Ceballos and Martín de Olavide.

Similarly, between the late
18
th
century and early
19
th
century, acting on a royal order of 1791, the sea
captain Felipe Bausa (or Bauzá), responsible for the delineation, and the engraver Fernando Selma drew a
complete sea chart of the Gulf of Mexico for the Hydrographic Deposit of the Navy. It was titled
Carta
esférica que comprende las costas del Seno Mexicano
(Spherical Chart
covering
the coasts of the Gulf of
Mexico), with coordinates
referenced to
the
Cadiz
meridian, from 94°50’W and between 31°10’ to 17°50’N
(
f
ig
.
8).

Fig. 8
–
Spherical Chart
covering
the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico.
Felipe Bausa [1800].

Fig. 7 – Mapa esférico que abrange as costas do Golfo do México.

Source:
Ministerio de Defensa. Museo Naval.
A
-
10169

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This map
(fig. 8)
indicated bathymetric soundings, bars, bottoms, anchorages, coastal
placenames
and
the
magnetic deviation observed
in
different
places.
Bausa’s
sea chart
is
thus
a
compendium
of
all
the
cartographic knowledge of the coasts around the Gulf of Mexico acquired
up to
that time
point in
the
18
th
century, including the work performed by Ulloa’s Fleet in 1776 and 1777 and the expedition headed by
Malaspina and Bustamante (Puig
-
Samper, 2012). This sea chart was first printed in 1800 and a second edition
with corrections in 1803.

Alexander von Humboldt’s visit to the Viceroyalty of New Spain did not take place until that last year
of 1803, when he obtained permission to travel across the territory and gathered a large amount of information
before returning to Europe in August 1804.
His essay was published between 1809 and 1814
(
Perdices de
Blas & Rampos
-
Gorostiza, 2015
),
while the Iberian Peninsula was occupied by Napoleonic troops (1808
-
1813). In that context, the independence movements in Hispanic America advanced
rapidly
. However, with
the return of the Bourbons to the Spanish throne, Humboldt enjoyed access to a considerable volume of
previous documents that he was able to use in his book (Thurner &
C
añizares
-
Esguerra, 2023).

  1. 5.
    CONCLUSIONS

Maritime cartography produced by military engineers and officers in the Spanish Royal Navy
served
an eminently utilitarian purpose: to control and defend the coast and help ships safely reach the ports that the
Spanish Crown established in America, such as Veracruz, or to find favourable coastal sites within Hispanic
territories
for settlement
; places that were still little known but which were indicated on the maps.

In addition to the establishment of external networks, for example with Cuba,
Cadiz
or the Canary
Islands, these Novo
-
Hispanic coastal enclaves also formed part of internal relationship networks between
different places in the viceroyalty. Some of these networks were even connected by inland navigation, in
relation to the different river
s in the area (
Alcántara, 2016;
García de León, 2011). In this way, progressively,
the Novo
-
Hispanic coastal regions facing the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea became the setting of
exchanges, negotiations, confrontations and even political delimitations.

The gradual compilation of
geographical
data improved and enriched nautical charts and
maps or
corrected
earlier
ones
.
It
enabled
c
lear
progress
in
geographic
knowledge,
which
was
of
fundamental
importance
in
guarantee
ing
Spanish trade and sovereignty over those lands, during a time of growing conflict
and geopolitical rivalries.

At the same time, the accumulation of partial charts for particular segments of the coast enabled
general maps to be drawn later that covered large areas of sea and coast.
In this way, cartography advanced
from a large scale (with great detail in
nautical charts,
hydrographic maps and plans of
fortifications and
cities
)
to a small geographical scale, covering
wide areas and making use of technical innovations
available
a
t
the
time
(astronomic
al
observations
,
mathematical
advances
and
base
meridian
s
,
among
others
)
.
Additionally, Creole knowledge of the coastlines contributed to the maps Ulloa’s team completed, which
could explain
how
Ulloa’s team was able to work so quickly
.
It may therefore be deduced that this geographic
knowledge was built upon multiple collective endeavours and not only
that
of the individuals who appear as
the acknowledged authors of the maps.

Scientific
and
technical
difficulties
remained
considerable
,
posing
a
constant
challenge
of
representation for officers, engineers, astronomers and cartographers,
some of whom were locally born
, i.e.,
born in New Spain. In the late
18th
century, appropriate scales were used to measure longitude and latitude,
and coordinates were
established through
increasingly
precise
astronomic
al
observations and
the use of
a
base
meridian.
River
courses,
mouths
and
lagoons,
capes,
cays,
cliffs
and
bays
were
also
shown
more
precisely owing to empirical experience.

Regarding New Spain’s cartography,
García
-
Redondo (2021, p. 2) notes that “rather than remaining a
strictly
geographical
artefact,
maps
became
visual
models
for
the
dissemination
and
discussion
of
[geographic]
knowledge”. However, colonial cartography has been seen as a positivist tool for imperialism
deployed at the service of dominating, hegemonic power and elites (Mignolo, 2011). Harley (2001),
similarly
adopting
this critical stance
but
focusing more on
the conquest period, proposes a semiotic analysis and, in
the same line, Schlögel (2016) emphasizes social, cultural and geopolitical aspects of maps.

In this regard, during this
final
period of
colonial rule in
Hispanic America, the improvements in
technical instruments and geographic knowledge transmitted by the maps of coastlines and maritime areas
lay the foundations for the development of scientific thought, as expressed by Ulloa in his writings (e.g., the
d
iagnosis proposed by Ulloa and Juan in their manuscript of 1749 on the Kingdom of Peru). This was
connected with
subsequent
political changes, leading to emancipation. Instead of a monolithic conception of
Spanish
colonisation
, this approach shows the importance of continuing to explore critically the geographic

Gil de Arriba, C.
Finisterra,
LXI
(131), 2026, e44868
13

i
The political
-
administrative divisions of the viceroyalties varied in the course of Spanish coloni
s
ation.
Gerhard (1972) uses the governorship system established
in 1786 and 1789.

ii
Yconismo hidrotérreo, o Mapa Geographico de la America Septentrional.
Delineado y observado p[o]r el Contador de los R[eale]s Azogues D. José Antonio de
Villaseñor y Sánches
, ca. 1746 [Archivo General de Indias, MP
-
MEXICO, 161] and
Nuevo Mapa Geographico de la America Septentrional pertenecienteal
Virreynato de Mexico. Por Don Joseph Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez
, 1768. [Servicio Geográfico del Ejército LM, 8, 1, 54].

iii
The term placer refers to a quite flat and long bank of sand or stones on the sea bottom. In this case, it was a coral reef o
f madrepores that were also called
mucaras in Ulloa’s
Descripción.

iv
A quite complete description of Tortuga Bank was made in the book by Gonzalo de Murga (1865). Richmond (1920, pp. 131
–
132) contains the following text
from the logbook of Charles Knowles, rear admiral of the British squadron which fought against the Spani
sh commanded by Andrés Reggio, in the sea battle of
Havana in 1748: “Having received certain intelligence of the time of Spanish ships sailing from Vera
-
Cruz with the treasure for Havana, I consulted with Governor
Trelawny about intercepting them, who conc
urring in sentiment with me I resolved upon going down off the Tortuga Bank and to Endeavour to do it accordingly”.

v
Letter from Alejandro Malaspina to Antonio Ulloa asking for information about navigation on the coasts of central and norther
n America.
Ms 426, f. 74
-
76 (2
nd
letter, Questions 22 to 29) (Higueras, 1985).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research for this article was carried out at the Archivo General de Simancas (Valladolid), the Archivo
General de Indias (Seville), the Museo Naval of Madrid, and the Biblioteca Nacional de España. I am grateful to
these institutions for the support in
developing the research.

ORCID

Carmen Gil de Arriba
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5415-6869

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