
A Vast, 430-Year-Old World Map - bcaulfield
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vast-map-planisphereurbano-monte-places-creatures-real-imagined
======
stinos
I love old maps like this. We have a government-funded website [1] which
contains historical maps back to the beginning of the 18th century and which
can be overlayed on top of current maps. Some of them are beautifully drawn,
with tiny castles etc. And they are likely the results of years and years of
fairly manual labor and it's striking how accurate they are. It's nice to see
our street already existed back then, and some houses are still in the exact
same place and some even already existed then (though there were only about 5,
vs 50 now). And the church was already there of course. Many of the names of
streets/forests/areas haven't changed much phonetically but mainly spelling-
wise. And the old names give an insight into why villages were named the way
they were.

[1] geopunt.be

~~~
StreakyCobra
For interested people, there are also old maps of Switzerland available as
"Journey through time" on the government website [1] They are ranging from
1844 to 2013. It's based on Dufour and Siegfried maps, which are presented
there: [2, 3]. Time can be changed by clicking on the year number in red.

[1]
[https://map.geo.admin.ch/?layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen&lay...](https://map.geo.admin.ch/?layers=ch.swisstopo.zeitreihen&layers_visibility=true&layers_timestamp=18641231)

[2] [https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/knowledge-facts/maps-
and-m...](https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/knowledge-facts/maps-and-
more/historical-maps/dufour-map.html)

[3] [https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/knowledge-facts/maps-
and-m...](https://www.swisstopo.admin.ch/en/knowledge-facts/maps-and-
more/historical-maps/siegfried-map.html)

------
newman8r
interesting. Link to the actual zoomable map:

[https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~3...](https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~303661~90074314:Composite
--Tavola-1-60---Map-of-the)

~~~
ekianjo
Nice! There is a hole/frame right above Spain, I wonder what it was supposed
to be used for.

~~~
newman8r
I asked on reddit but ended up finding the answer on my own.

" The note box has been cut out, indicating perhaps an intended revision that
did not occur."

per
[https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~3...](https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~303570~90074177:Tavola-
XIII-Che-Ha-Sua-Superiore-
La?qvq=q:author%3D"Monte%2B\(Monti\)%2C%2BUrbano%2C%2B1544-1613";lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=21)

so it's anyone's guess really

------
kitd
Interesting that the name "America" is only used for (a part of) Brazil. This
appears to support the consensus that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci,
who first explored South America.

Shame. As a Welshman, I quite like this version:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amerike)

~~~
craftyguy
I was always taught in school that it was Amerigo. I've never even heard of
Amerike until now.

------
cmpb
There's a wonderful collection of US maps including historical, geologic,
thematic and minute/degree over at the USGS Store[1]. There also really cheap
to order/ship. I bought six maps of the Louisiana area (including one that was
~50 inches wide!) for a total of about 25 USD.

[1] [https://store.usgs.gov/maps](https://store.usgs.gov/maps)

~~~
mstade
Beautiful – thank you for sharing this!

------
afsina
500 year old Piri Resi map also have similar drawings.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_Reis_map)

~~~
craftyguy
I've always found it interesting that the Ottomans financed Piri Reis, who
created one of the greatest surviving maps of that era, but the Ottomans were
such minor players on the truly global front. I'm not aware of any attempts by
them to colonize the 'new world'. Maybe after Piri reported in they felt it
was not worth their time? Or they likely had larger domestic problems to deal
with..

------
jsvaughan
the wikipedia page for early world maps is worth a look, it shows how they
improved over the years:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_world_maps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_world_maps)

I was struck by how much more accurate the linked one is than the c1300 mappa
mundi, which lives in my home town.

------
e0m
You can by this as a print:

60 inch print is $210 14 inch print is $40

[https://davidrumsey.reprintmint.com/002-default.html?varific...](https://davidrumsey.reprintmint.com/002-default.html?varification=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2FMediaManager%2Fsrvr%3Fmediafile%3D%2FJP2K%2FRUMSEY~8~1%2F179%2F10130087.jp2%26level%3D1%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26width%3D31039%26height%3D31080&src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Frumsey%2FSize4%2FRUMSEY~8~1%2F179%2F10130087.jpg&caption=%28Composite+map+of%29+Tavola+1-60.+%28Map+of+the+World%29+%28with+additional+spheres+and+labels+in+the+four+corners%29.&source=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2FMediaManager%2Fsrvr%3Fmediafile%3D%2FJP2K%2FRUMSEY~8~1%2F179%2F10130087.jp2%26level%3D1%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26width%3D31039%26height%3D31080&title=Composite%3A+Tavola+1-60.+%28Map+of+the+World%29+%28with+additional+spheres+and+labels+in+the+four+corners%29).

------
Asturaz
An old map over the nordic countries from 1539 is also quite accurate, and
have some interesting creatures.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carta_marina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carta_marina)

zoomable:

[http://art.alvin-
portal.org/alvin/viewer.jsf?file=http://art...](http://art.alvin-
portal.org/alvin/viewer.jsf?file=http://art.alvin-
portal.org/retservice/attachment/preview/alvin-record:6964-ATTACHMENT-0001)

------
riffraff
If you enjoy old maps and fantastic creatures, you might like Eco's "Legendary
Lands" book[0], which is basically an anthology of stories and visions of the
world made up in the past.

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/Book-Legendary-Lands-Umberto-
Eco/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Legendary-Lands-Umberto-
Eco/dp/0847841219/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1515490323&sr=8-8&keywords=umberto+eco)

------
Nursie
I find old maps fascinating and beautiful.

One (superficial) thing that immediately jumps out at me is how similar that
first image is to the weird 'flat-earth' maps produced by conspiracy-theorists
and/or trolls today.

Of course the story shows us that this is merely the projection used by the
mapmaker, not that they thought the earth was flat.

------
prmph
Around the middle of the West African coast, we have >Capo de tre ponte

Presumably Cape Three Points
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Three_Points](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Three_Points)).

Fascinating that this landmark was known even then.

~~~
mkempe
Hanno the Navigator [1] led and recorded the Carthaginian exploration of the
Western coast of Africa in the 5th or 6th century BC.

By the way deliberate Carthaginian accounts of sea monsters is a source of the
myths discouraging sailing in the Atlantic.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanno_the_Navigator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanno_the_Navigator)

------
GunlogAlm
Interestingly, the map has Brasil, a mythical island off the coast of Ireland:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasil_(mythical_island)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasil_\(mythical_island\))

------
thriftwy
It's interesting how land mass between black sea and baltic sea is greatly
underestimated while Finnish gulf size is greatly overestimated.

I guess somebody couldn't wrap their mind around having so much land.

~~~
Kliment
Or more likely there simply wasn't sufficient data on distances or the region
was not considered important enough.

~~~
thriftwy
Whan you think of it, mapping is an art of representing regions not important
enough. To highlight important places, graphs do much better job.

------
twooclock
For all old maps fascinados: [http://mapire.eu/en/](http://mapire.eu/en/) Well
done site with great viewing options!

------
c3534l
I'm always surprised at the awful artistic skills of maps during this period.
If you look at the details, you can see how wobbly and uneven the simplest of
lines and curves are. It seems odd because on the very large scale it would
appear as if some sort of compass and other devises were used, but simple
lines consist of overlapping strokes, erratic and handwritting that refuses to
be consistently centered, and child-like scribbles for trees. For a 20 year
effort, it seems careless and lacking in even rudimentary art skills. But this
seems tn be every map from the period, not just this one.

~~~
hycaria
Maybe because they had to get more ink between each stroke ? No fountain pen
yet (appeared during the 17th in Europe)

~~~
c3534l
Then why not center the letters in each box, rather than write them
carelessly? Even if the lines were of uneven width, they're still not straight
lines when they should be straight, wobbly when they should be elliptical.

------
somtum
Beautiful map. Reminds me of the maps in the LOTR books.

------
protomyth
I would seriously love if they took the scan and sold prints (maybe even a
special full-size one) to help their funding.

~~~
jorge-d
Well it looks like it's available to order:
[https://davidrumsey.reprintmint.com/002-default.html?varific...](https://davidrumsey.reprintmint.com/002-default.html?varification=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2FMediaManager%2Fsrvr%3Fmediafile%3D%2FJP2K%2FRUMSEY~8~1%2F179%2F10130087.jp2%26level%3D1%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26width%3D31039%26height%3D31080&src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2Frumsey%2FSize4%2FRUMSEY~8~1%2F179%2F10130087.jpg&caption=%28Composite+map+of%29+Tavola+1-60.+%28Map+of+the+World%29+%28with+additional+spheres+and+labels+in+the+four+corners%29.&source=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.davidrumsey.com%2FMediaManager%2Fsrvr%3Fmediafile%3D%2FJP2K%2FRUMSEY~8~1%2F179%2F10130087.jp2%26level%3D1%26x%3D0%26y%3D0%26width%3D31039%26height%3D31080&title=Composite%3A+Tavola+1-60.+%28Map+of+the+World%29+%28with+additional+spheres+and+labels+in+the+four+corners%29).

------
donatj
I would be very curious to see it distorted into a more familiar projection or
wrapped onto a globe.

------
mrarjen
Love how it got Frisa correctly down as a bunch of man made hills sticking out
of the water.

