Infogrades

World Map by Henricus Martellus, 1489

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by

Infogrades Staff
in ,

Henricus Martellus, a skilled German geographer and cartographer who worked in Florence around 1480 to 1496, created an intriguing map of the world. Some historians believe that Christopher Columbus used this map to convince Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile to finance his 1492 voyage. The British Library digitized Martellus’s old map and put it into perspective by overlaying it on the current World Map. You can view it here.

Specifications

Published by
Account of the Islands of the Mediterranean
Infographic Elements  
map
Designed by
Henricus Martellus
Associated Topics  
old world, world map, expedition

Henricus Martellus World Map, 1489

Comments

2 responses to “World Map by Henricus Martellus, 1489”

  1. DieHardF2 Avatar
    DieHardF2

    It is astonishing how much of what the Europeans knew about geography before discovering the new world

    Reply
  2. Irrepressible Avatar
    Irrepressible

    The reason why the landmasses were not correctly transcribed is because the geographic coordinate(longitude). It has not been solved during this time period.

    Reply

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