Homann / Lowitz very large showpiece map of the Philippines, in two sheets, drawn in the Philippines by Lowitz, after the 1734 Velarde map. The map includes the 1521 tracks of Magellan, as well as the incoming and outgoing tracks of the annual Manilla galleons.

Gorgeous condition, stunning original colour.

Charting the Philippines Islands

Pedro Murillo Velarde (1696 - 1753)
George Maurice Lowitz
Nicolas De La Cruz De Bagay/
Francisco Suarez

Carte Hydrographique & Chorographique des Isles Philippines

[Translation of the text in the upper right cartouche of the map]

Dedicated to the Catholic Majesty by the Governor-General Fernando Valdés Tamon ...

Drawn by the Jesuit Pedro Murillo Velarde ...

Copied from the 1734 edition with some changes and in reduced format by George Maurice Lowitz, Professor of Mathematics in Nuremberg in the year 1750.

Published by the firm of Homann Heirs in 1760.

[the original was engraved by Nicolas de la Cruz de Bagay, a Tagalog Indio, in Manila in 1734]

This coveted 1760 reissue of Murillo Velarde’s 1734 Carta Hydrographica shows the island contested by China -- Panacot (Scarborough Shoal) off Zambales.

Various shipping routes around and between the islands are indicated as the map also served as a sea chart. On the island of Mindanao near the Laguna de Mindanao, there is a Spanish inscription

Aqui estuvo S. Franc[isco] Xavier

[ St. Francis Xavier was here! ]

This bolstered the 18th century fond belief that the “Apostle of the Indies” set foot in Mindanao. The upper right and lower left corners are enhanced with decorative cartouches.

Murillo Velarde asked the printer Nicolás de la Cruz de Bagay to engrave both the 1734 and 1760 maps. Murillo Velarde expressed his admiration for the talent of the Indios (Filipinos) in the arts and in the passage found in the lower left corner of the map:

…The Indios [Filipinos] are well-built, have fine features and are dusky in complexion. They become good writers, painters, sculptors, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, embroiderers, and sailors. The Christian religion is taught in Spanish, Tagalog, Sangley or Chinese, Pampango, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Cagayano, Visayan, Camarines and other languages.

The last copy in auction was in 2020 for hammerprice PHP 700,000 plus auction fees (PHP 800,000 including fees), see

Leon Gallery Auction The Kingly Treasures Auction 28 Nov 2020 lot 65, sold for PHP 800,000 (USD 14,000).

Antique maps of the East India Company
Antique maps of the Philippines
Antique maps of Southeast Asia