Donald Wigal - Historic Maritime Maps Used for Historic Exploration, 1290–1699

M aps, even those dating from centuries ago, constantly influence our daily lives. They are one of the things which are part of our daily environment. Throughout history, besides having a utilitarian function, every single map symbolizes the period of time in which it was created. We are often reminded of the romance of antique maritime maps as we see them displayed in museums, or reproductions of them framed on the walls of private houses or institutions. In a Vermeer painting a map may be seen telling a story-within-a-story. In plays and films maps typically set the period.

The Artist s Studio

Johannes Vermeer van Delft (1632-1675), c. 1665

Oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

In fiction they may be called on to remind the reader of a world beyond the story s setting (in Herman Melville s Moby Dick, for example). Each map is, therefore, a priceless snapshot in the on-going album of human kind. This is especially true with antique maps where we can see the world through the eyes of our forebears.

While the map maker s vision might later prove to be inadequate, or even incorrect, the unique truth is that his map expresses a story that might not be revealed in any other way. It may well be said that each map maker has effectively traveled in his mind vicariously not only to the envisioned places, but also to the future.

Arab map featuring Arabia as the centre of the world Al-Istakhri

th century

ational Library, Cairo

One such visionary monk was the th century map maker, Fra Mauro. He was certainly responsible for bringing to light the work of several other map makers. In doing so he helped make the transition from the Dark Ages to the beginning of the modern era (c. 1450). Mauro was part of the generation that was at work during the very focus of these significant times, over thirty years before the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World in 1492.

World Map

after 1262

in Psalter Map Manuscript, Lon don, Ms-Add 28681

British Library, London

Mauro probably went largely unnoticed in his monastery on an island within the Laguna Veneta (the lagoon that surrounds Venice). But his new map was destined to demand attention. It was large and round which was unusual almost two metres (six feet) in diameter, yet still very definitely a map and not a global representation. Most of all, he no longer showed Jerusalem as the center of the world.

For the Asian part of the map Mauro took his data from the writings of Marco Polo. The rest was based on Ptolemy, or his own contemporary sea-faring charts. Mauro s extraordinary work was completed in 1459.

The Pisana map

Unknown Artist, 1290

Parchment, x cm

Bibliothque nationale de France, Paris

Also in transition was the Earth itself, as after all, its surface was being discovered . Its face was also becoming more clearly defined with each new exploration and subsequent map revision.

Just twenty years before Mauro s map as if anticipating the need to get such priceless information to the world Gutenberg (1400-1468) developed his revolutionary printing press. The first printed map in 1477 followed the first printed Bible in 1440. Both were documents that would support, in very distinct ways, the emergence of international humanism.

Atlas (Black Sea)

Petrus Vesconte, 1313

Parchment, x cm

Bibliothque nationale de France, Paris