Map of Armenia By Fernão Vaz Dourado

Portuguese cartographer Fernão Vaz Dourado’s map below depicts Lesser Armenia (Փոքր Հայք) and Greater Armenia (Մեծ Հայք).

The main river tributaries extend through the Black and Caspian Seas, occupying territories that are now known as Georgia, Azerbaijan and most of eastern Turkey, including Mount Ararat.

The map belongs to the third period of the old Portuguese navigational cartography which is characterized by decrease of the influence of the Ptolemy notions of orientation and greater accuracy of depictions of countries and continents.

Douradu’s well-known works are noted for the high quality and beauty of performance. He was one of the most outstanding cartographers of his time. Most of his hand-written maps are of relatively large scale and have been included in navigational atlases.

Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

The Goat on the Armenian Highland: A Symbol Older Than Writing

Introduction Long before Urartian kings inscribed their names in cuneiform on the cliffs of Van,…

2 days ago

“Summon Against Her the Kingdoms of Ararat”: Urartu-Armenia in the Prophecy Against Babylon

A Coalition Beneath the Mountain Among the oracles of judgment collected in the Book of…

3 days ago

The Tower That Never Left Us: From the Susi Shrine of Ancient Van to the Obelisk Above the Yerevan Cascade

If you have ever climbed the Cascade in Yerevan and looked up at the tall,…

5 days ago

Hayravank Monastery: The “Father Monastery” of Lake Sevan and the Legend of the Doves

On a rocky promontory above the southwestern shore of Lake Sevan, at an elevation of…

1 week ago

Scythian Ceremonial Swords and the Art of the Van Kingdom (Urartu)

Among the most arresting objects to survive from the Early Iron Age Near East are…

1 week ago

Abandoned by an Ally: The French Armenian Legion in Cilicia and the Road to the Smyrna Catastrophe

How a promise made to genocide survivors was traded away for peace with Ankara —…

2 weeks ago