Drawings of the city: the representation of Natal city in the 17th century

Historical cartography regarding the 17^th century privileged a few urban nuclei of Brazil, producing fairly precise drawings of their urban area and surroundings. Apparently, this has not been the case for most of the existing localities, like Natal/RN, to which one may question to what extent the few maps of that time represent the city’s urban reality of that period. This article focuses on graphic representation of Natal in a set of maps, by interpreting and confronting them with manuscripts about the city that have been contemporary with those maps. Despite some inconsistencies and gaps, it is demonstrated the maps analyzed portray a relatively precise perception of what the city was at that point.

Keywords:
drawing; representation; cartography; Natal; 17^th century