Location and Shape of the Island
The circular form of Brazil and its location westward of southern Ireland are affirmed by many maps, including Dalorto, 1325 ([Fig. 4]); Dulcert, 1339;[87] Laurenziano-Gaddiano, 1351;[88] Pizigani, 1367 ([Fig. 2]); anonymous Weimar map, probably about 1481;[89] Giraldi, 1426;[90] Beccario, 1426[91] and 1435[92] ([Fig. 20]); Juan da Napoli, perhaps 1430;[93] Bianco, 1436 and 1448;[94] Valsequa, 1439;[95] Pareto, 1455[96] ([Fig. 21]); Roselli, 1468;[97] Benincasa, 1482[98] ([Fig. 22]); Juan de la Cosa, 1500;[99] and numerous later maps. Probably the persistent roundness is ascribable to a certain preference for geometrical regularity, which sowed these early maps with circles, crescents, trilobed clover leaves, and other more unusual but not less artificial island forms. The direction must stand for the tradition of some old voyage or voyages.