The two maps, which could be united into a single 12-sheet map, depict North America up to the Mississippi and Spanish Louisiana to the west, and the Great Lakes region to the north. This was the territory of the 13 colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) that signed the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. Bermuda, Jamaica and a cartographic integration of Florida are also represented in decorative cartouches.
The sheets, engraved on copper and water-coloured by hand, were published in Venice in 1778, before the conclusion of the American War of Independence (1783), of which the early stages of some key episodes are reported. At various points the annotations highlight the provisional nature of the topographical symbols, such as the Indian villages recorded as destroyed and the border lines next to which is reported the date or occasion on which they were established.
Zatta’s map is derived from the celebrated Map of the British and French Dominions in North America produced by John Mitchell for the first time between 1750 and 1755, of which it is in fact the first Italian edition. Mitchell had created the map in order to support English territorial claims against the French in North America, but over time it radically changed purpose, in 1783 providing the cartographic basis for the delineation of the borders of the new and independent United States of America. It is noteworthy that Zatta makes no mention of the original creator of the map, which is not given anywhere, including in the decorative panel that contains a dedication to the Reformers of the University of Padua.
The 12 sheets were also included in the Atlante novissimo, illustrato ed accresciuto that Zatta published between 1779 and 1785.
It was in fact his encounter with Zatta’s North American map that sparked a passion for cartography in the young Armando Morbiato, leading him, many years later, to become a collector of maps and atlases.
Browse the gallery and discover the details of the map:
