Portolan map of the Albino de Canepa
The Albino de Canepa's portolan card is dated to 1489. Albino de Canepa was Genoese . Details about Canepa and how the map was created are not known.
History of origin
The map was created before Christopher Columbus' voyage in 1492. It can be seen as evidence of the nautical knowledge of Genoese and probably Venetian seafarers of the 15th century.
description
The map is colored. The coastlines are colored red-brown. Mountains are marked green, partly also green-brown. Individual areas such as Granada or Norway are also colored green. Rivers are shown with blue lines. Important places are usually marked with the flags of the rulers belonging to them. Islands are shown in different colors, mostly red or blue.
Cartographic details
The Mediterranean area including the coast of North Africa are mapped with a very high degree of accuracy. The proportions of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica are consistent. The islands of Greece and Cyprus are well hit.
The careful representation continues in the Black Sea , where the Genoese possessions are marked with the flag of Genoa.
In the south, the limit of the map maker’s knowledge is essentially closed by the Atlas Mountains . However, there are other locations on the Atlantic coast of North Africa and on the lower reaches of the Nile .
In the west, the islands of Antilia and Roillo are also shown , which can be found on previous maps.
The west coast of France , with Brittany and the coasts of Ireland and Great Britain are still quite well hit.
Northern Europe is represented in a rudimentary and imprecise way. Regnum noruegia turns green. Nevertheless, Groneland ( Greenland ) is also shown, but is located in the Gulf of Bothnia . The representation of a Vestitiland west of Norway is remarkable , which is characterized by a coastline colored half green and a location with three towers.
See also
literature
- Joachim G. Leithäuser : Mappae mundi: The spiritual conquest of the world , Safari publishing house, Berlin 1958
- Konrad Kretschmer : The Italian Portolane of the Middle Ages , Olms, Hildesheim 1962 (reprint of the Berlin 1909 edition)
Web links
- High resolution image available on the James Ford Bell Library, Minnesota website
- Emily Sohmer Tai, Marking Water: Piracy and Property in the Pre-Modern West ( Memento from April 15, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joachim Gustav Leithäuser in Mappae mundi: Die Geistige Eroberung der Welt, 1958, p. 341