Abraham Cresques
Abraham Cresques (* 1325 Mallorca ; † around 1387), also Avram Cresques , was a Catalan cartographer and compass maker of Jewish descent. Together with his son Jehuda Cresques he drew the Catalan Atlas in 1375 .
Throughout his life, Cresques was occupied with maps, compasses and clocks. In 1375 he received an order from Peter IV of Aragón to draw four maps that should cover everything known from east to west. The Catalan Atlas can be viewed today in the French National Library .
The atlas is based on information obtained by the Cresques family from seafarers whose routes passed through the Mallorca hub. The peculiarity of the Catalan Atlas was that in addition to the results of the Catalan portulani (these are detailed nautical maps mostly of the lake areas of the Mediterranean), the geographical findings of Marco Polo's trips were also processed for the first time .
On the six double images drawn by Cresques, each 64 × 50 centimeters in size, the world from the Atlantic to China, known at the time, is depicted and richly provided with image information about the country and its people.
Trivia
On April 13, 2017, the asteroid (304788) Cresques was named in his honor.
See also
literature
- Katrin Kogman-Appel: Catalan maps and Jewish books. The intellectual profile of Elisha Ben Abraham Cresques (1325-1387) , Turnhout: Brepols 2020, ISBN 9782503585482 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Abraham Cresques in the catalog of the German National Library
- The Catalan Atlas, 14th century. (BNF, ESP 30) - further images from the Catalan World Atlas ( Bibliothèque nationale de France , Paris)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Minor Planet Circulars. (PDF) In: Minor Planet Center . April 13, 2017, p. 103983 , accessed on July 19, 2017 (English).
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Cresques, Abraham |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Catalan cartographer |
DATE OF BIRTH | 1325 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Mallorca |
DATE OF DEATH | around 1387 |