Atlas Geographico; del Reyno de Espana, e Islas Adyacentes. by LOPEZ, Tomas de Vargas Machuca (1730-1802)

Madrid: Calle de Atocha, [ca 1770]. LOPEZ, Tomas de Vargas Machuca (1730-1802). Atlas Geographico; del Reyno de Espana, e Islas Adyacentes, con una Breve Description de sus Provincias. Dispuesto, para la utilidad publica. Madrid: Calle de Atocha frente a ls plazuela del Angel, No.1.qto.2o, [ca 1770]. 16mo., (4 4/8 x 3 2/8 inches). Double-page engraved allegorical title-page, engraved 'Prologo', general map of Spain, full-page circular map of Madrid with key printed in red and black, and 23 further double-page maps and views, most with original hand-colour in outline. Contemporary tree calf, the smooth spine gilt-ruled in compartments. First published in 1757 without the maps of Portugal, which reflect Spain's continued interest in conquering Portugal which in the 18th-century began in earnest with the invasion of 1762. This edition printed using the same, but altered, plates of the first edition: 3 - Espana Dividida [-] Madrid [-] Las Cercanias de Madrid 6 - Castilla la nueva.... 7 - Castilla la Vieja 8 - Leon 9 - Estremadura 10 - Andalucia 11 - Granada 12 - Murcia 13 - Valencia 14 - Galicia 15 - Principado de Asturias 16 - Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, Alava y Rioja 17 - Navarra 18 - Aragon 19 - Cataluña 20 - Reyno de Mallorca 21 - El Reyno de Portugal Dividido en Provincias 22 - Vista de Lisboa, segun estaba antes deltemblor de tierra 23 - La Provincia de Estremadura Portuguesa 24 - La Provincia de Beyra 25 - La Provincia entre Duero é Miño 26 - La Provincia de Tras-los-Montes 27 - La provincia de Alemtejo y el Reyno de los Algarves Lopez was one of Spain's most reknowned cartographers. He spent his early years in Paris as the pupil of the great French cartographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, but in 1760 was recalled to Spain and became Royal Geographer to King Charles III, with the task of mapping all the different regions of Spain. In preparation for such a great task he sent out a questionnaire to parishes, asking them for information on their local area. These regional maps were intended to accompany his ambitious work "Diccionario Geográfico-Histórico de España", which was sadly never completed. The political union of the Crown of Portugal with the Spanish Crown, known as the Iberian Union, after the War of the Portuguese Succession, included all the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire, and lasted from 1580 to 1640. The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy, and Spain's enemies became Portugal's. When Philip II of Portugal (Philip III of Spain) died, he was succeeded by Philip III (and IV of Spain) who had a different approach on Portuguese issues. Taxes raised affected mainly the Portuguese merchants. The Portuguese nobility began to lose their influence, and government posts in Portugal were occupied by Spaniards. Ultimately, Philip III tried to make Portugal a royal province, and Portuguese nobles lost all of their power. The kingdom of Portugal from the restoration of the House of Braganza in 1640 until the end of the reign of the Marquis of Pombal in 1777 was in a period of transition, and a great temptation to the expansionist interests of Spain. In 1762 Spain declared war against Portugal, with disastrous results for Spain, and a victory for the Portuguese: the Spaniards would lose to the Portuguese nearly all the territory they had conquered during the conflict (Colonia do Sacramento was given back by the treaty of Paris, which ended the war, and Rio Grande do Sul would be retaken from the Spanish army during the undeclared war of 1763-1777) while Portugal retained all its conquests (Rio Negro Valley and Guapore’s right bank/Mato Grosso). Palau 140277; Phillips, Atlases 3132; Shirley, British Library T.LOP-1b. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.