Na transição para a moderna cartografia. As cartas náuticas da região de Lisboa de Tofiño e Franzini

Abstract

AT THE TRANSFORMATION TO MODERN CARTOGRAPHY. THE NAUTICAL CHARTS OF THE LISBON AREA ACCORDING TO TOFIÑO AND FRANZINI - This study shows the representation of the Lisbon area as presented by two of the cartographers whose achievements were paramount to improving our knowledge of the coastline: the Spaniard D. Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel (1732-1795) and the Portuguese Mariano Miguel Franzini (1769-1861). The study follows the research embarked upon in 1991, which focuses on old maps of the Portuguese coastline giving a rather detailed depiction of the Lisbon area. The paper dwells briefly on the 16th to 18th century maps analysed in previous studies, presenting then the cartographic production of Tofiño and Franzini that was amenable to inventory. Their production is given against a syntesis of each of their professional backgrounds as technical, military and scientific officials.The representations of the Lisbon coastline in Tofiño's 1788 chart and in Franzini's 1811 charts are analysed and compared to present-day hydrographic charts. The comparison procedure is enhanced through computerized manipulation of the information contained in the documents. Tofiño Spherical Chart (Carta esférica) shows few innovations in the patterning of the Portuguese coastline with the oldest known representations, which is not the case of the remaining charts in his invaluable Maritime Atlas of Spain (Atlas maritimo de España) (1789). The modern outlines of the Portuguese coast are in fact owed to Franzini, who produced both a Reduced Chart (Carta reduzida) and detailed charts. The comparison between current hydrographic charts and Franzini's charts emphasizes his accuracy in representing the coastline, with a considerable number of soundings that indeed enabled diagrammatic renderings of depth contours in the simplified charts shown in this study.