LAGOS AND THE SERRA DE MONCHIQUE AND PROMONTORY OF SAGRES,Alemtego_Algarve,Portugal,Antique Map

HISTORICAL MAP CHART

LAGOS, a seaport of southern Portugal, in the district of Faro (formerly the province of Algarve); on the Atlantic Ocean, and on the estuary of the small river Lagos, here spanned by a fine stone bridge. The city is defended by fortifications erected in the 10th century. It is supplied with water by an aqueduct 800 yds. long. The harbour is deep, capacious, and completely sheltered on the north and west; it is frequently visited by the British Channel fleet. Vines and figs are extensively cultivated in the neighborhood, and Lagos is the centre of important sardine and tunny fisheries. Its trade is chiefly carried on by small coasting vessels, as there is no railway. Lagos is on or near the site of the Roman Lacobriga. Since the 8th century it has held the formal rank and title of city. Cape St Vincent, the ancient Promontorium Sacrum, and the southwestern extremity of the kingdom, is 22 m. W. It is famous for its connection with Prince Henry, the Navigator, who here founded the town of Sagres in 1421; and for several British naval victories, the most celebrated of which was won in 1797 by Admiral Jervis (afterwards Earl St Vincent) over a larger Spanish squadron. In 1759 Admiral Boscawen defeated a French fleet off Lagos. The great earthquake of 1755 destroyed a large part of the city. The Sagres Point, in the Algarve of southern Portugal, which forms the southwesternmost tip of Europe, was already sacred ground in Neolithic times, as standing menhirs in the neighborhood still attest. Its name still recalls the Promentorum Sacrum. Sagres was at least as important during the Age of Discovery as Cape Canaveral was during the early years of space exploration. It was from that place that Prince Henry the Navigator came in the 15th century to work on his obsession to push back the frontiers of the known world, and opened Europe to the Great Discoveries. Cabo São Vicente, Sagres, was the "holy promontory" known to the Greeks and Romans, a sanctuary so sacred it was forbidden to pass the night there. Sagres, was the "holy promontory" known to the Greeks and Romans, a sanctuary so sacred it was forbidden to pass the night there. Even though the exact location of Henry's School of Navigation is not currently known (it is popularly believed to have been destroyed by an earthquake in 1755), in the past, it attracted the best scholars in Europe concerned with the nautical sciences. Under Henry's patronage, a community of brilliant scientists came there to teach and study, and accumulated correlated nautical knowledge as it was brought back by captains of successive voyages to once unknown places. The scholars in turn instructed less experienced captains about Atlantic currents and wind systems and the latest navigation methods. At the Sagres Academy, among many important discoveries, cartography was refined with the use of newly devised instruments, maps were regularly updated and extended, and a revolutionary type of vessel was designed: the caravel.

1890s Wood Engraving, Antique Map

Approximate Overall Size: 7 X 10 1/2 inches

CONDITION: Book Plate INTEXT MAP - Excellent Condition. Beautiful with excellent detail. There is Text on Front and Back Side.