Acknowledgments List of Figures and Tables Abbreviations Introduction Part 1: Oracles 1 D. Luis da Cunha: Oracle of Geopolitics 1 Mirror for a Prince 2 The Fifth Evangelist 3 Academies 4 The Ambassador and the Art of Diplomacy 5 The Salons and the Dinner Table2 Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville: Oracle of Geography 1 An Armchair Geographer and His Fortune 2 Origins and Education 3 Between an Oblong and an Oblate Earth 4 Paper Earth 5 Royal Geographer Part 2: Encounters 3 Minerva's Forest: the Ambassador, the Cartographer, and D. João V's Royal Library 1 An Enlightened King and His Library 2 Delisle and the New Measuring of the Tordesillas Meridian 3 Mathematical Instruments and Their Experts 4 Maps and Prints 5 The Tordesillas Meridian4 The Portuguese Imperium in D. Luis da Cunha's Geopolitical View and the Formulation of Uti possidetis 1 Minas Gerais Captaincy or the Old Lady's Goods 2 The State of Maranhão and the Mill Mule 3 The Colônia do Sacramento or the Touchstone 4 The Fernando de Noronha Island, the War of Jenkins's Ear, and the English Threat 5 The Uti possidetis or the Colonization as an Act of Possession Part 3: Maps 5 Amérique méridionale , a Modern Knowledge 1 An Enlightened Map 2 Placing Names 3 Map Sources 4 Oracles of a Living Geography 5 The Nunes Brothers6 Amérique méridionale , a Distorting Mirror 1 The Blank and the Void 2 Simulacra 3 The Amazonas Warriors 4 El Dorado 5 The Return of Parima Epilogue: A Lost Treasure 1 Diplomacy and Cartography 2 The Rio de la Plata Basin 3 The Midwest and Amazonia 4 Cabo do Norte and the Guianas 5 The Treaty of Madrid and Uti possidetis 6 The Amérique méridionale versus the Mapa das cortes Bibliography Index.