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Portolan Charts

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Portolan Charts P O R T O L A N C H A R T S THEI R ORIG IN AND CHARACTERISTICS W ITH A DESCRI PTIV E LIST OF THOSE BELONG ING TO THE HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AM ERICA D ARD L T R T E W U E S E E S PH . H V N ON , D . NEW Y ORK 191 1 OPYRI G HT 1 1 1 C , 9 BY T HE HISPANI C S OC IE TY OF AMERI CA t he knicketbocket pteas. n ew mom CONTENTS T PORTOLAN CHAR S . BIBLIOGRAPHY DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF CHARTS AND ATLASES I N THE COLLECTION OF THE HISPANIC SOCI ETY OF AMERICA : H 1 T GI ROLDI 5H . GIACOMO , EARLY CENTURY N 1 468 PETRUS ROSELLI , . O 1 470 O . NICOLAUS DE NICOLO, - F T 1 5 E L H ANONYMOUS . A E T ‘ O VES CONTE I 1 51 2 DE MA OLO, J ’ N FRED CI 1 24 C D H OCTOM A NO U C 5 . CON E , Q OT H OMANO FREDU CCI L E CONTE DE , AT AS OF FIV CHARTS, 1 537 ° 9 1 GT H T ANONYMOUS, EARLY CEN URY 59 1 GTH ANONYMOUS, EARLY CENTURY 1 L 1 T 0 . G H ANONYMOUS, ATLAS OF THREE CHARTS, EAR Y CEN TURY 1 1 L OE L I 5TH . BAPTISTA AGNESE, AT AS FOURTEEN CHARTS, EAR Y CENTURY 1 2 . L L BARTO OMEO O IVO, AFTER 1 3 . H I ERONY M O GI RI VA , AFTER 1 552 52 BARTOLOMEO OLIVES, 60 . 53 1 L 1 5 . 5. GIOVANNI MARTINES, AT AS OF SEVEN CHARTS, AFTER 1 . 55 L I 563 . 1 6 . J L S X AUME O IVES, AT AS OF CHARTS, 1 566 1 7 J . AUME OLIVES, I 1 58 1 FI 582 . 8 . V GIOVANNI MARTINES, ATLAS OF CHARTS, 59 1 9 L 1 6TH . ANONYMOUS, AT AS OF FOUR CHARTS, LATE CENTURY 1 590 2 0 . L T DOMINICUS DE VILLARROE , A LAS OF SEVEN CHARTS, CIRCA 21 1 597 . VINCENTIUS PRUNES, L ANONYMOUS, ATLAS OF THREE CHARTS, SECOND HA F OF 1 GTH CENTURY 23 . L 1 6T H 66 ANONYMOUS, ATLAS OF THREE CHARTS, ATE CENTURY 24 . I 6T H . ANONYMOUS, CENTURY 2 5 1 GT . L H . ANONYMOUS, ATE CENTURY 26 . VOLCI US 1 600 . VINCENTIUS DEMETRIUS , 27. L 1 605 MAIO O E VISCONTE, . 28 . J L 1 7 H . OANNES O IVA, EARLY T CENTURY 29 . PLA IT AL L I TH C US C VI RO 7 . ET O IVA, EARLY CENTURY 30 . I ARLY I 7TH ANONYMOUS, CENTURY . 1 3 . J IS LLI I 1 637 . OUAN BATT TA CAVA N , 5 32 . 1 5 . ROCKLER 6 0 . 7 GEORG ANDREA , ATLAS OF FOUR CHARTS, V REPROD UCTIONS 1 560 F on tis ie c e I . L . r GIOVANNI MART NES, AFTER CHART ONE OF AT AS p FACI NG PAG E VES CONTE I 1 51 2 1 2 DE MA OLO, T OT H OM ANO FREDU CCI 1 537 . TW O L 1 6 CON E DE , CHART OF AT AS . I 6T H T . T 22 T I W O . BAP STA AGNESE , EARLY CEN URY CHART OF ATLAS . DARTOLOM EO I T 1 550 32 OL VO, AF ER 1 552 40 BARTOLOMEO OLIVES , J I 1 563 . T T E . 50 AUME OL VES, CHAR HR E OF ATLAS . J 54 AUME OLIVES, I T 1 52 . OF T 8 . 58 G OVANNI MAR INES, CHART ONE A LAS T E 1 582 T L 0 W O . 6 GIOVANNI MAR IN S, . CHART OF AT AS N T 1 52 T T L 2 8 . 6 GIOVA NI MAR INES , CHAR HREE OF AT AS . I VALLARROEL I 1 590 . L 66 DOMIN CUS DE , C RCA CHART THREE OF AT AS . 1 GTH T TW O ANONYMOUS, SECOND HALF OF CEN URY . CHART OF . ROCK LER 1 650 . T W L O . GEORG ANDREAS , CHART OF AT AS PORTOLAN CHARTS MONG the ge o gra phic a l records o f earlier centuries h to in A w ich have come down us , none are more te re stin g than the portolan charts W hich were drawn durin g the years fittin gly designated the period h of great geographical discoveries . T ey attract and hold o f the attention by reason their artistic features , as well as by their remarkable approach to scientific accuracy f o r so early a period . To the cloister maps o f the middl e ages they present n a marked contrast . The former strikingly exhibit the i fl ue n c e o f e . I n cclesiastical and classical tradition general , they are far from truthful in the ir presentation of the ge o graphical features of the earth . Though highly interesting as reflecting geographical notions o f the time in which they were drawn , they possess little value as scientific maps . Portolan charts are based upon careful and W hat may be called scientific observations . It is only in recent times that there has been an improvement in the charting o f o f the region to which most them pertain , that is , the Mediterranean and the Atlantic co as t in varying extent to the north and the south o f Gibraltar . They too ex bibit the geographical interests of the period to W hich they belong . They are the creations of seamen , navi - W ho in gators , explorers , chart makers were leaders the expansion of geographical knowledge which opened the o f m . New World region Africa, of India, and of A erica This brief word concerning the origin , character, and o f n general significance portolan charts , the first moder scientific maps , is presented as an introduction to a de s criptive list of the numerous originals belonging to The Hispani c Society o f America . An inquiry into the his tory of portolan charts which have been preserved to o ur day leads immediately to a query concerning their o rigin . None of those extant are known to have been d 1 30 0 rawn prior to the year , and the oldest example bearin g date and signature is that o f Pietro Visconte o o rd e n skiOld f the year 1 3 1 1 . N thinks that the normal to portolan chart, as he chooses call it, that is , the one o f which served as a sort original pattern , must have o been constructed s metime during the thirteenth century, u f o r from n merous coast sketches such , example , as those which may be found in a cosmographic poem by L r L a s e m . eonardo Dati , bea ing the title f The argu m ents in support Of the assumption seem reasonable , yet the fact remains that no dated portolan chart o f that ( century, as has been stated above , is known ; neither are s uch sketches known as those to which No rd e n skiOld re . An fers , antedating the fourteenth century interesting record, however, is that to be found in a work by Guil laume de Nangis describing the crusade o f King Loui s ’ I X . 1 2 0 in 7 , noting that the King s ships had sea charts n e o on board . I the voyage from Aigu sm rte s to Cag liari , the port selected for the rendezvous of the ships making up the expedition, they were overtaken by a s o f torm , and at the end the sixth day, as Cagliari had n o t W yet been reached, the King expressed a ish to know the o f . exact location his ship The pilots , we are told, 2 to him to the brought their charts , and showed him that di port was n o t far stant . Theobald Fischer has advanced the theory that porto la n z an i n ds charts have a By tine origin, and F ori i hol i n o t 0 D n 1 0 0 A. that Ital an navigators , long after lear ed from the Greeks o f Constantinople ho w to make and ho w to use charts which were founded o n draw ings and di measurements , and that in succee ng years they grad uall m y i proved them . Again the fact confronts us that n o o f z o r n portolan chart By antine Greek origin is know , nor is the evidence o f such eastern influence traceable in existing charts . The first thousand years and more of the Christian ’ era have left us none of the s ailors charts which may have been employed during those ce nturies . Ptolemy alone of the ancient writers alludes to the o n e o charts of seamen , and might c nclude from his refer e n c e s that such as he had in mind were not un like the portolan charts which we have here under consideration . But all these to o are lost . As there appears to be a relationship existing between the ancient periplus , the Italian portolan , and the porto o o f — lan chart f the period discovery , which chart at first was doubtless regarded as a very useful addition to the to portolan , coming in time supplant it as the know o f —a ledge seamanship expanded , more extended refer ence to the character of the periplus and o f the portolan will fittin gly in troduce us to the portolan chart .
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