Americae siue noui orbis, noua descriptio, Abraham Ortelius

In 1587, Ortelius revised the map of the Americas that appeared in his Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The changes found on this second edition are more extensive than generally thought, and are evidence of the care that he took in keeping his maps as current as possible. The most apparent change was the removal of the large bulge on the west coast of South America. On the east coast of North America, an eastward flowing river, which may be the Chesapeake Bay, was also added. If correctly identified, this would be the first appearance of the Chesapeake Bay on a printed map.
Courtesy of Private Collection