De Virga world map
The De Virga world map was created by Albertin de Virga in the second decade of the 15th century. On the card there is the note in small letters:
- A. 141 .. Albertin diuirga me fecit in vinexia
- Made in Venice in 141 [?] By Albertinius de Virga
The last year is illegible due to a crease; it is interpreted as 1 or 5.
Albertin de Virga was a Venetian. He is also known for a map of the Mediterranean from 1409, which was also created in Venice.
description
The map combines features of medieval world maps and Portolan maps. The actual map drawing is framed in a circle. The circle has a diameter of 41 cm. The complete work was drawn on parchment measuring 69.6 × 44 centimeters and also contains a calendar and two tables. One of the tables was for calculating the phases of the moon , the other for calculating the date of Easter .
The map is oriented to the north. In the middle of the map in the area of Central Asia there is a compass rose , which may show the Ulugh Beg observatory in the city of Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan . But it could also designate the western coast of the Caspian Sea . The compass rose divides the map into eight sectors.
The map is colored (the illustration opposite is based on a non-colored reproduction). With the exception of the red sea, which was colored red, the seas were left in white. Continents are marked in yellow; different colors were used for islands. Mountains are shown in brown, lakes in blue and rivers in brown.
The calendar, outside the card, is provided with images of zodiac signs .
The map corresponds in many ways with the map by Fra Mauro from 1457. Like this one, it was drawn before the circumnavigation of the Cape of Good Hope .
Cartographic details
The ocean surrounding the continental mass is called "Mari Oziano Magno".
Jerusalem is indicated (Jordan and Gorlan), but is not exactly in the center of the map. The three continents are represented fairly clearly and are labeled “Europe”, “Africa” and “Asia”. The Indian Ocean contains a multitude of colored islands that are stylistically reminiscent of Arabic maps.
Atlantic Ocean
The Canaries and Azores are drawn and show an influence of Genoese and Catalan maps.
Africa
The Atlas Mountains and the Nile are shown on the African continent . The author locates the kingdom of the priest-king John in Ethiopia .
The Garden of Eden was drawn at the southernmost tip of Africa with the symbol of two concentric rings, from which, according to Genesis , the four rivers of Paradise originate.
Asia
Asia is provided with location information such as Medru , Calcar , Monza sede di sedre (M .. from North China) and Bogar Tartarorum , i.e. continuously represented as being under Mongolian or Tatar rule. Karakoram is shown with fortifications. Next to it is the indication "M..gol" ( Mongols ). There are also names of Chinese rivers and cities that Marco Polo used.
On the shores of the Indian Ocean, the kingdoms of Mimdar and Madar can be seen. Furthermore, possibly Sri Lanka , with the inscription Ysola d alegro suczimcas magna . A large island in the Indian Ocean is called Caparu sive Java magna . Possibly this goes back to Marco Polo's description of Java and Japan.
Europe
In northern Europe, various places are recorded, such as Ogama, Goga ( Gog and Magog ), Rotenia ( Ruthenia ), Naja and Samolica. The name Norveca ( Norway ) is found in Scandinavia . The local coastline merges into a land mass that could be described as a separate “northern continent” and evokes associations with the Skálholt map . Because of this, it was argued that the world map of De Virgo should be regarded as evidence of pre-Columbian knowledge of America. The prevailing view is that De Virga misinterpreted information about Norway that was forwarded to him. For example, Iceland is not shown on the map.
To the history of the card
The map was rediscovered and acquired in 1911 by the art collector Albert Figdor in an antiquarian bookshop in Šibenik . It was examined by Franz von Wieser , professor at the University of Innsbruck , there is no doubt as to its authenticity. Wieser commissioned them to take photographs of the map, which are now in the British Library .
Albert Figdor died in Vienna in 1928 . In June 1932 the card in Lucerne - Figdor's collection was sold by his heirs - was listed in an auction catalog of the Swiss company Gilhofer & Ranschburg with a minimum bid of 9,000 Swiss francs. It came into the possession of a Jewish family from Heidelberg and disappeared with its owners at the end of the 1930s.
literature
- Arthur Durst: Albertin de Virga's world map from 1411 or 1415. In: Cartographica Helvetica , 13 (1996), pp. 18-21.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alessandro Scafi: Mapping paradise. A history of heaven on earth. British Library, London 2006, ISBN 0-7123-4877-8 , p. 249.
- ^ A b Antoine De Smet: Monumenta Cartographica Vetustioris Aevi , Vol. I. Mappaemundi. Mappemondes AD 1200–1500. Catalog prepared by the Commission des Cartes Anciennes de l'Union Géographique Internationale by Marcel Destombes. In: Imago Mundi Vol. 22 (1968), pp. 121-126 ( JSTOR 1150447 ).
- ^ Evelyn Edson: The world map, 1300-1492. The persistence of tradition and transformation. Johns Hopkins University Press, London 2007, ISBN 0-8018-8589-2 , p. 88.
- ^ Gunnar Thompson: New Found Land
- ↑ a b c Kirsten A. Seaver : Cartographic controversy: Albertin de Virga and the Far North. In: Mercator's World 2: 6, 1997 online ( Memento from January 18, 2003 in the Internet Archive ).
- ^ Geographical Yearbook. Volumes 41-42, J. Perthes, 1926, p. 159.
- ^ Franz R. von Wieser: The world map of Albertin de Virga. From the beginning of the XV. Century in the Figdor Collection in Vienna. Determination d. KK Ministry of Culture and Education for the XVIII. German Geographers' Day in Innsbruck. Schwick, Innsbruck 1912.
- ^ Gustav Otruba : Figdor, Albert. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 143 f. ( Digitized version ).
- ^ Evelyn Edson: The world map, 1300-1492. The persistence of tradition and transformation. Johns Hopkins University Press, London 2007, ISBN 0-8018-8589-2 , pp. 76 and 252.