Spanish Standard Chart (Padrón Real)

Timeline

1. 1508–1512Casa de Contratación, Seville · SevilleThe Castilian crown ordered a unified master chart set up at the Casa de Contratación to prevent ships' own charts from contradicting each other. Vespucci served as the first piloto mayor, responsible for examining pilots, calibrating instruments, and incorporating verified new coasts and coordinates from returning reports into the master chart.
2. 1525–1529Seville · SevilleAfter Magellan's route and further American explorations were absorbed, the master chart was upgraded to global scale. Royal cosmographer Diogo Ribeiro's world maps of 1525–1529 are the surviving works closest in content to the official master, depicting new knowledge of the American east coast from Greenland to the Strait of Magellan.
3. 1530–1550Casa de Contratación, Seville · SevilleReturning officers had to swear to report new discoveries, and the piloto mayor and cartographers periodically decided whether to revise the chart. Outbound ships had to carry official charts copied from the master, with fines for violations. The master itself was kept secret, making geographic intelligence a crown-controlled strategic resource.