The Portuguese Eredia Map of Tiwi Islands
This is a summary of the paper written by N.H. Peters asserting that the the Ouro and Luca.Antara Islands charted on the Eredia Map of 1602 are Melville and Bathurst Islands off Northern Australia. Peters claims that the Portuguese probably explored the Tiwi Islands around 1600. He proposes new bearing methods for comparing ancient and modern maps. The Eredia map was made by Emanuel Godhino de Eredia, a leading cartographer and geographer of the time in the East Indies. Most textbooks say that the Dutch first discovered Australia in 1606 in the Duyfken. But more and more evidence is coming to light to point to the thesis that the Portuguese had already been exploring Australia for about ninety years.
The Eredia Map was only discovered in 1946 in the National Library of Rio Di Janeiro. Emanuel Godhina de Eredia was the son of a Portuguese father and a malayan princess, educated by the Jesuits at Malacca and Goa. In the late sixteenth century the Portuguese were losing their grip on the spice trade in the East Indies. Between 1595 and 1601 at least 14 dutch fleets had sailed for the East Indies and Dutch competition was biting hard. The Malays were fighting back in Malacca, the Ambonese were revolting and the English were nosing around. The area was in complete political upheaval. These were the motivations behind the Portuguese push to the south to explore alternative trading sources and bases.
The political expediencies called for secrecy. Eredia created a hoax by claiming that he had a letter from the King of Damuth describing the voyage to the south. This was a smoke screen to confuse and deceive in order to protect Portugal's trading and political interests.
Peters puts forward a very technical explanation for his mapping projections and you should have a look at them for yourself. He asserts that Ouro and Antara are no more distorted than Java, Sumbawa, Flores, or Timor. The idea of Scale and the capacity to measure distances accurately were not that advanced in 1600. Maps of that time were bearing maps and the bearings were more important than shape or size. Distortion also crept in because the measurement of distances between important points was not possible or consistent. Also it seemed that Antara was deliberately mapped out of scale in comparison to Ouro. Possibly to confuse and keep competitors off the track.
Portuguese Explorations of Australia Resources
NH Peters - Eredia Map 1602
Portuguese Explore Australia
Portuguese explore Moluccas
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