Jeronimo de Girava
Back to people overviewJerónimo Girava was a Spanish mathematician, engineer, and cosmographer. He was a nobleman and part of the royal house of the orders of Carlos I.
Despite Nicolaus Copernicus’ heliocentric theory having been published for thirteen years, Girava subscribed to a geocentric astronomical system. Girava drew on Gaspar Vopellio Medeburgense’s charts to create his maps.
In 1556 he published the book ‘Dos libros de cosmographia’, which included a cordiform world map called ‘Typo De La Carta Cosmographica’. The map was used to instruct pilots and documents Vasco Núñez de Balboa’s ‘discovery’ of the Pacific in 1513. Sections of the text are dedicated to the glorification of Spanish 'findings' in the New World. Girava’s book ‘India ó Nuevo mundo’ charted Brazil and was published posthumously.
