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Colonial-Era Spanish Compass Bearings

Spanish colonial texts commonly make use of directional terminology drawn from standard navigational directions used by ship pilots, and which are commonly illustrated in the compass roses shown on maps and atlases of the era The image below is adapted from the hand-drawn compass rose shown in the c1537 Espejo de Navegantes by royal cosmographer Alonso de Chaves, and shows the 32 most commonly used directional divisions. The table below lists common spellings and abbreviations in Spanish for these 32 directions along with English equivalencies, and the actual bearings in degrees and minutes.

Table of Colonial-Era Spanish Compass Bearings

Spanish	Span. Abbreviation	English	Eng. Abbreviation	Bearing
norte	N	north	N	0º
norte quarta al nordeste	N4NE	north and by east	NBE	11º 15’
nornordeste	NNE	north north east	NNE	22º 30’
nordeste quarta al norte	NE4N	north east and by north	NEBN	33º 45’
nordeste	NE	north east	NE	45º
nordeste quarta al leste	NE4E/NE4L	north east and by east	NEBE	56º 15’
lesnordeste	ENE/LNE	east north east	ENE	67º 30’
leste quarta al nordeste	E4NE/L4NE	east and by north	EBN	78º 45’
leste	E/L	east	E	90º
leste quarta al sueste	E4SE/L4SE	east and by south	EBS	101º 15
lesueste	ESE/LSE	east south east	ESE	112º 30’
sueste quarta al leste	SE4E/SE4L	south east and by east	SEBE	123º 45’
sueste	SE	south east	SE	135º
sueste quarta al sur	SE4S	south east and by south	SEBS	146º 15’
sursueste	SSE	south south east	SSE	157º 30’
sur quarta al sueste	S4SE	south and by east	SBE	168º 45’
sur	S	south	S	180º
sur quarta al sudoeste	S4SO	south and by west	SBW	191º 15’
sursudoeste	SSO	south south west	SSW	202º 30’
sudoeste quarta al sur	SO4S	south west and by south	SWBS	213º 45’
sudoeste	SO	south west	SW	225º
sudoeste quarta al oeste	SO4O	south west and by west	SWBW	236º 15’
oessudoeste	OSO	west south west	WSW	247º 30’
oeste quarta al sudoeste	O4SO	west and by south	WBS	258º 45’
oeste	O	west	W	270º
oeste quarta al noroeste	O4NO	west and by north	WBN	281º 15’
oesnoroeste	ONO	west north west	WNW	292º 30’
noroeste quarta al oeste	NO4O	north west and by west	NWBW	303º 45’
noroeste	NO	north west	NW	315º
noroeste quarta al norte	NO4N	north west and by north	NWBN	326º 15’
nornoroeste	NNO	north north west	NNW	337º 30’
norte quarta al noroeste	N4NO	north and by west	NBW	348º 45’

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Colonial-Era Spanish Compass Bearings

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