The World Map, 1300-1492: The Persistence of Tradition and Transformation

by Evelyn Edson

Overview

In the two centuries before Columbus, mapmaking was transformed. The World Map, 1300–1492 investigates this important, transitional period of mapmaking. Beginning with a 1436 atlas of ten maps produced by Venetian Andrea Bianco, Evelyn Edson uses maps of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to examine how the discoveries of missionaries and merchants affected the content and configuration of world maps.

She finds that both the makers and users of maps struggled with changes brought about by technological innovation—the compass, quadrant, and astrolabe—rediscovery of classical mapmaking approaches, and increased travel. To reconcile the tensions between the conservative and progressive worldviews, mapmakers used a careful blend of the old and the new to depict a world that was changing—and growing—before their eyes.

This engaging and informative study reveals how the ingenuity, creativity, and adaptability of these craftsmen helped pave the way for an age of discovery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801885891
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2007
Series:	Published in cooperation with the Center for American Places, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Staunton, Virginia
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.99(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Evelyn Edson recently retired as professor of history at Piedmont Virginia Community College. She is the author of Mapping Time and Space: How Medieval Mapmakers Viewed Their World.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction: Andrea Bianco's Three Maps
1. The World View of the Mappamundi in the Thirteenth Century
2. Marine Charts and Sailing Directions
3. Sea Chart and Mappamundi in the Fourteenth Century
4. Merchants, Missionaries, and Travel Writers
5. The Recovery of Ptolemy's Geography
6. Fra Mauro: The Debate on the Map
7. The Persistence of Tradition in Fifteenth-Century World Maps
8. The Transformation of the World Map
Conclusion: The World Map Transformed
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A fine, unusual perspective of world history and cartographic influences.
—Midwest Book Review

Attorneys who study maps either for work or pleasure — and many do — will enjoy Professor Evelyn Edson's The World Map, 1300–1492.
—Henry S. Cohn, Federal Lawyer

A work of thoughtful design and fascinating narrative.
—Choice

Marvelous book.
—Tom Conley, Portolan

Edson has re-balanced our view of the later medieval period and in doing so has provided us with the latest scholarship in the field . . . The book is written in an easily accessible style and is very down to earth.
—Sarah Tyacke, Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient

This study deserves a wide readership . . . Magisterial survey.
—Daniel Brownstein, Renaissance Quarterly

Throughout the work Evelyn Edson has cast her net widely, bringing under scrutiny many players, significant and lesser, who contributed to the making of maps in the two centures leading up to 1500. Her footnotes are extensive.
—Rodney Shirley, Imcos Journal

The book brings together current scholarship on all of the many maps it features, and the glue that holds it all together is Edson's intellectual breadth and curiosity.
—Naomi Reed Kline, Speculum

A comprehensive and complex picture of the changing face of medieval geography. With the mastery of a formidable palette of historiographic knowledge and well-reasoned discussions of the sources, The World Map, 1300–1492 will certainly remain an important work to consult for both medieval and early modern scholars for many years to come.
—Ian J. Aebel, Terrae Incognitae

From the Publisher

This study deserves a wide readership . . . Magisterial survey.

Renaissance Quarterly - Daniel Brownstein

Edson has re-balanced our view of the later medieval period and in doing so has provided us with the latest scholarship in the field . . . The book is written in an easily accessible style and is very down to earth.

Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient - Sarah Tyacke

A work of thoughtful design and fascinating narrative.

Choice

A fine, unusual perspective of world history and cartographic influences.

Midwest Book Review

Throughout the work Evelyn Edson has cast her net widely, bringing under scrutiny many players, significant and lesser, who contributed to the making of maps in the two centures leading up to 1500. Her footnotes are extensive.

Imcos Journal - Rodney Shirley

The book brings together current scholarship on all of the many maps it features, and the glue that holds it all together is Edson's intellectual breadth and curiosity.

Speculum - Naomi Reed Kline

Marvelous book.

Portolan - Tom Conley

A comprehensive and complex picture of the changing face of medieval geography. With the mastery of a formidable palette of historiographic knowledge and well-reasoned discussions of the sources, The World Map, 1300–1492 will certainly remain an important work to consult for both medieval and early modern scholars for many years to come.

Terrae Incognitae - Ian J. Aebel

Attorneys who study maps either for work or pleasure — and many do — will enjoy Professor Evelyn Edson's The World Map, 1300–1492.

Federal Lawyer - Henry S. Cohn

A comprehensive and complex picture of the changing face of medieval geography. With the mastery of a formidable palette of historiographic knowledge and well-reasoned discussions of the sources, The World Map, 1300–1492 will certainly remain an important work to consult for both medieval and early modern scholars for many years to come.

— Ian J. Aebel

Terrae Incognitae

The book brings together current scholarship on all of the many maps it features, and the glue that holds it all together is Edson's intellectual breadth and curiosity.

— Naomi Reed Kline

Speculum

Throughout the work Evelyn Edson has cast her net widely, bringing under scrutiny many players, significant and lesser, who contributed to the making of maps in the two centures leading up to 1500. Her footnoes are extensive.

— Rodney Shirley

Imcos Journal

This study deserves a wide readership... Magisterial survey.

— Daniel Brownstein

Renaissance Quarterly

Edson has re-balanced our view of the later medieval period and in doing hs provided us with the latest scholarship in the field... The book is written in an easily accessible style and is very down to earth.

— Sarah Tyacke

Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient

Marvelous book.

— Tom Conley

Portolan

Attorneys who study maps either for work or pleasure — and many do — will enjoy Professor Evelyn Edson's The World Map, 1300–1492.

— Henry S. Cohn

Federal Lawyer