TOFINO DE SAN MIGUEL (Vicente).
Atlas Maritimo de España.
Despite its long maritime heritage, Spain (and Portugal) lagged behind the rest of Europe in terms of chart publishing.
Vicente Tofiño De San Miguel (1732-1795) was a Spanish mariner and chart-maker, who published the first printed Spanish sea-atlas, the ‘Atlas maritimo de Espana’, 1787 [-1789]. This volume is one part of the ‘Atlas maritimo de Espana’, containing only those charts of the Atlantic coasts of Spain and north-western Africa, with a series of charts of the major harbours, including Vigo Bay, Bilbao and Cadiz.
This was the most important sea-atlas of Spanish coastal waters and facing coast of Africa of the period, rendered particularly important by the naval operations during the war between Britain and Spain.
