Abstract
This map is from the 1622 Dutch edition of Antonio de Herrera y Torrdesillas' map of Southeast Asia and the coast of China and Japan, first published in 1601. Herrera was the first official historian of Spain. His maps are particularly interesting in that they have lines showing Pope Alexander VI's 1494 division of the world between Spain and Portugal. The coastline of China in this map is clearly based on Portuguese and native Chinese sources and shows principal ports, offshore islands, and islands in the outer Pearl River estuary. Pearl River is named as River Ganges, reflecting Gerard Mercator's erroneous belief that one tributary of the Ganges flowed from the foothills of India eastward to China.