Lake Texcoco

How does a person read a map: From North down to the South? Or is a map read from the South down to the North? Many years ago, when cartography was young, maps were actually drawn with SOUTH at the TOP of the page. Lake Texcoco is a perfect example of this format. There are two, one from 1523 and the copy done in 1538. The volcanoes at the top of the map of 1538 are actually those at the southern rim of the Altiplano of México.

The language of the map is Italian and the cartographer was named M. Plinius. The map is a famous one. So famous that its actual orientation has been lost in a maze of rhetoric. Since the map was created for the Conquistadores shortly after the defeat of Tenochtitlán, the language of the map has been understood to be Spanish, except that the word Austro at the top is supposed to signify the orientation East.

To discover that it is in Italian, well maybe it is Latin. . . .and, oh, yes, all the cities have been identified as Aztec names. . . . so why bother with what is already known, seems to be the order of the day. "When [Bernal Diaz] saw so many cities and villages built both in the water and on dry land. . . and this straight level causeway (of Cuitlahuac), it was like the enchantments told about in the book Amadis, because of the high towers, cues (temples) and other buildings all of masonry which rose from the water." (Idell, p. 148)

The Aztec Lago de Texcoco was breathtaking before the Conquest but it was very shortly thereafter that the Lake was drained by the German engineer, Heinrich Martin, in the 1607-8 AD. (Wolfe, p. 6)

In the year 1523 a circular map was drawn for Cortés it is said, but that full color map is seldom shown in its entirety. Later in 1538 another map was done as a woodcut. These two maps have been used as "gospel" to show us what the lake looked like before it was destroyed by the German engineer, but in spite of the full 1523 version of the map form, they are always shown in an upside-down position.

Along with these maps, we are told that the indigenous races of the pre-Columbian Central American countries always oriented their maps, EAST to our north. This is similar to the magnetic carriage of China, which always points to the south. The only reason that the carriage always points to the south is because it is frozen in that position in the museum of Beijing. As a magnet, it actually pointed to the North. However, since maps in China were first drawn by Moslems, THEIR maps always were drawn with south to the North. So indeed, a north-pointing compass would point to the south on a Moorish map.

Hence, no one was wrong, but no one was looking at the data either.

So it is with the first European maps of Texcoco. The data is "true" because the word Austro found at the top of this map, does mean East in a valid Norse language with a slight change in spelling. With Auster(East) placed at the very top of the map (our North) together with the flaming volcanoes (A), the Aztec orientation is a proven fact, or else, someone forgot to look at the language base on the map itself.

What is the language of the map? Who was the cartographer? As stated previously, the cartographer is named Martin Plinius. He was an Italian historian. The language on the map, every word of it,(except the Aztec names of the cities) is in Italian. Medieval Italian to be sure, but Italian nevertheless.

It is also a known fact that there were many Moorish cartographers in Southern Italy in the sixteenth century.

Is Auster an Italian word as well as a Norse word? Auster not only is an Italian word but it agrees with the climatology of Italy. Auster meaning hot, burning [winds], and this is related to the scorching Siroccos that come off the Sahara desert and move northward into Europe during the summer.

A short note on a road on one side of the map (the wrong side if Austro is in the north position), states "This is the road to the North Sea." (B) One does not even have to be able to read Italian or even Latin in order to understand the text.

And again, if the painted round map of Texcoco (1523) is the complete version (found in the Atlas of Columbus and The Great Discoveries (1990) edited by Kenneth Nebenzahl), the direction that is indicated by this notation leads to the Gulf of Mexico. When are we going to turn the 1523 map and the 1538 copy of M. Plinius right side up? Check out the following: A More Ancient Map.