Jean de Léry, in contrast to many of the other authors that we have read so far this semester, seems to map Brazil in a primarily anthropological sense. As we discussed in class, in this work Léry seems to be aiming for intellectual superiority. Where Cabeza de Vaca or Columbus may have provided scattered descriptions of the natives, birds, or animals, Léry makes a point to organize and justify his information. He gives it in an encyclopedic sense, breaking down his cultural description into a logical progression of how the natives live, act, eat, and die. His description of the flora and fauna is likewise organized; it is fairly to-the-point, especially given Léry’s French nationality, and is easy to follow and even at times downright interesting. Especially given the novelty of the things that Léry is describing, it is even more helpful to the (European) reader to have concise, logical explanations of the customs and ways of the “American” world. In this way, Léry maps the New World not only in cultural and anthropological terms, but also as a sort of “one-up” to the people who have described America before him. By organizing his mapping in such a way, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil also serves to discredit all those who sought to map as Léry did – and who just did so less effectively than he.