Joan Oliva

Joan Oliva was a prominent figure in the Spanish Oliva family, a renowned cartographic dynasty who specialised in the production of portolan charts.

The family maintained a monopoly on the navigational market throughout the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Charts signed by no fewer than 16 members of the Oliva family are recorded between 1538 and 1673. Individual members worked throughout the Mediterranean; however, their exact relationship is unclear.

Joan Oliva was the most productive and highly esteemed of the family. His publications were developed for an elite audience and decorated with gold leaf and inscribed with cursive notes. His earlier charts were executed in Messina, he is also recorded as living in Naples and Marseilles, where he is thought to have died.