Photos: Tampa Bay History Center has acquired the first map to show Florida

On paper at least, Florida more or less didn’t exist before Hernán Cortés’ map of it appeared in a German book published in 1524. That book, and map, now belongs to the Tampa Bay History Center (TBHC) and is on display as part of a new exhibit that opened last weekend.

A press release says “Mapping the American Sea: A Cartographic History of the Gulf of Mexico” hopes to “reset a narrative and place the Gulf States, particularly Florida, along with Mexico and Cuba, in their proper context as crucial players in the history and development of the United States and North America.”

Also on display are Peter Martyr’s 1511 map of the Caribbean (the first to show any part of Florida) and Baptista Boazio’s 1588 view of St. Augustine(the first to show any city in the present-day U.S.).

“Just think, before this map was published 500 years ago, no map printed on Earth had the name Florida on it,” Rodney Kite-Powell, Dir. of the Touchton Map Library at TBHC, wrote. “The information on this map, as seemingly limited as it is, broke new cartographic ground and helped to usher in a new wave of European exploration and conquest.”

Mapping the American Sea: A Cartographic History of the Gulf of Mexico is open daily, and admission to Tampa Bay History Center starts at  $12.95.

See photos from the unveiling on Aug. 1, 2024 below.