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58 results

	Atlas of Joan Martines This manuscript atlas by Joan Martines, cosmographer to King Philip II of Spain, dated 1587, represents the combination of two cartographic schools that existed at the time of its creation. The older one was the traditional school of Majorca, which specialized in decorative portolan maps that by this time were obsolete with regard to the geographic information they conveyed. The newer one was the cartographic school of the Low Countries, which applied Renaissance principles and used different forms of cartographic representation based on new concepts in astronomy, mathematics, and geography ... Contributed by National Library of Spain
	The Wonders of Creation Zakarīyā ibn Muhammad al-Qazwīnī (circa 1203–83), was a distinguished Iranian scholar who was conversant in poetry, history, geography, and natural history. He served as legal expert and judge in several localities in Iran and at Baghdad. After traveling throughout Mesopotamia and Syria, he wrote his famous Arabic-language cosmography, 'Aja'eb ol-makhluqat wa qara'eb ol-mowjudat (The wonders of creation, or literally, Marvels of things created and miraculous aspects of things existing). This treatise, frequently illustrated, was immensely popular and is preserved today in many copies. It has been translated ... Contributed by National Library and Archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran
	Etymology Etymologiae (Etymology) is the best known work by Saint Isidore of Seville (circa 560–636), a scholar and theologian considered the last of the great Latin Church Fathers. It takes its name from a method of teaching that proceeds by explaining the origins and meaning of each word related to a topic. Saint Isidore drew on many different sources in his attempt to summarize all ancient knowledge and save it for posterity. The fame of the work led to it being widely copied and disseminated, and its popularity lasted even ... Contributed by National Library of Spain
	Geography Claudius Ptolemaeus (circa 100–circa 170), known as Ptolemy, was an astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of Greek descent who lived and worked in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. In his Geography, Ptolemy gathered all the geographic knowledge possessed by the Greco-Roman world. He used a system of grid lines to plot the latitude and longitude of some 8,000 places on a map that encompassed the known world at the height of the Roman Empire. Ptolemy’s work was lost to Europe in the Middle Ages, but around 1300 Byzantine ... Contributed by University Library of Naples
	Imperial Calendar in the Third Year of Emperor Jia Jing’s Reign in the Ming Dynasty The Da Ming Jiajing san nian datong li (Imperial calendar, or great universal system of calculating astronomy) is based upon the system of calendrical astronomy developed by the astronomer Guo Shoujin during the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). It was officially adapted by the Ming Bureau of Astronomy in 1384. It specified the phases of the moon and contained predictions of when lunar and solar eclipses would occur. The great Chinese navigator Zheng He used Guo Shoujing's methods to determine latitude and longitude on his voyages to the Pacific and Indian ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	A Complete Portrayal of the Earth This 1795 impression of a woodcut based on Oronce Fine’s 1534 heart-shaped map of the world is attributed to a cartographer from Tunis named Hajji Ahmad. At first glance, the map’s accompanying Ottoman Turkish text appears to be a captivating, first-person account of Hajji Ahmad’s remarkable odyssey across the Mediterranean. Upon closer inspection, cartography scholars have questioned the map’s authenticity and authorship. The text contains errors, and European sources such as Giovanni Battista Ramusio’s Delle Navigationi et Viaggi (Travels and voyages) appear to have influenced ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	A Modern Depiction of the World, Done by Philippus Eckebrecht, Citizen of Nuremberg, for the Sole Reason of Bringing the Depiction into Line with the Equator According to the Astronomical Tabulae Rudophinae: Financed by Ioannes Kepler and Engraved at Nuremberg by J. P. Walch Although dated 1630, this “modern depiction of the world,” by Philippus Eckebrecht appears to be a later reprinting. It is dedicated to Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, who came to the throne only in 1658. The map was originally produced at the behest of astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) to reflect his new calculations of longitude and latitude based on planetary observation. First published in 1627, Kepler’s astronomical tables were vastly more accurate than any previously existing. Framed by the two-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Modern and Completely Correct Map of the Entire World This mid-17th century “modern and completely correct map” of the entire world was printed in Amsterdam by Joan Blaeu (1596-1673), a member of the Blaeu family that helped to define mapmaking during the Dutch golden age. Beginning in the 16th century, the Blaeu firm produced some of Europe’s most renowned maps, globes, and atlases. After studying under Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, Joan’s father, Willem Blaeu (1571-1638), founded the company in 1596. In 1633 he was appointed official chartmaker to the Dutch East India Company, an office that passed ... Contributed by National Library of Brazil
	New and Accurate Map of the World Nicolaus Visscher (also spelled Nicolas, Nicolaes) was the third generation of a prominent mapmaking family active at the height of the golden age of Dutch cartography. The Visschers were known throughout Europe for the accuracy of their maps and the innovative ornamentation of their works. The founder of the business, C.J. Visscher, was a contemporary of other well-known Dutch mapmakers, such as Pieter van den Keere and Jodocus Hondius. After he died, his son, Nicolaus Visscher I, carried on the business. He was known for his use of patriotic ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Chronicle of Foreign Lands The Zhifang waiji (Chronicle of foreign lands) is a concise geography of the world, the first of its kind written in Chinese. The Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci produced a map of the world in Chinese in 1584. The map, which followed Western principles of cartography then unknown in China, underwent several revisions between 1584 and 1602. Ricci’s fellow priests Diego de Pantoja and Sabatino de Ursis were instructed by imperial order to compose a book explaining the map. Pantoja died in 1618 and the work eventually was completed ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and in Quest of a North-West Passage Between Asia & America, Performed in the Years 1776, 1777, 1778, and 1779 The American explorer and adventurer John Ledyard was born in Groton, Connecticut, in 1751. After studying briefly at Dartmouth College, he went to sea as a common sailor. He was forced to join the British Navy, and from June 1776 to October 1780 was a marine on Captain James Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific. This book recounts his observations of Alaska, Kamchatka, southern China, and the islands of the South Pacific. Ledyard later conceived of a plan to cross Russia, continue across the Bering Strait to Alaska, and ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	The Constellations The astronomer ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Umar al-Sufi, commonly known as al-Sufi, was born in Persia (present-day Iran) in 903 A.D. and died in 986. He worked in Isfahan and in Baghdad, and is known for his translation from Greek into Arabic of the Almagest by the ancient astronomer Ptolemy. Al-Sufi’s most famous work is Kitab suwar al-kawakib (Book of the constellations of the fixed stars), which he published around 964. In this work, al-Sufi describes the 48 constellations that were established by Ptolemy and adds criticisms and corrections ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Modern Geographic Table of Geography Antoine du Pérac Lafréry (1512-77) was a French engraver who settled in Rome, probably in the early 1540s, where he became a celebrated publisher of maps. Lafréry assembled and bound collections of maps from various sources, which he sold under the title Tavole moderne di geografia...di diversi autori raccolte et messe secondo l’ordine di Tolemeo (Modern geographical maps...from various authors, collected and organized according to Ptolemy’s geographical order). This work dates from around 1575, a few years after Abraham Ortelius, working in Antwerp, published the first ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	A New, Authentic, and Complete Collection of Voyages Round the World: Undertaken and Performed by Royal Authority, Containing a New, Authentic, Entertaining, Instructive, Full, and Complete Historical Account of Captain Cook's First, Second, Third, and Last Voyages, Undertaken by Order of His Present Majesty This compilation of British navigators' accounts of their voyages around the world covers the famous voyages of Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook, as well as expeditions by George Anson, John Byron, Samuel Wallis and Philip Carteret, and Constantine Phipps (Lord Mulgrave). In 1740-44, Anson led a three-year-and-nine-month mission that raided Spanish commerce off the coast of Peru before returning to England via the Cape of Good Hope. Byron made a voyage in 1764-65, during which he discovered the Islands of Disappointment (in present-day French Polynesia) and several smaller ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Small Passion. The Expulsion from Paradise Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is generally considered Germany’s greatest artist. In addition to being one of the monumental figures in the history of Western printmaking, he was a painter and wrote important early works of artistic theory dealing with such topics as geometry, perspective, and the measurements of the human body. Much of his work was religious. From his early 20s until his death at the age of 57, Dürer worked on at least six different versions of the Passion--the story of Christ's suffering between the Last Supper and ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Atlas of the World The Ch’ŏnha chido (Atlas of the world) is a 19th century copy of the traditional Korean atlas produced in the early Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910). One of the maps in the atlas, "Ch’ŏnhado" (Map of the world), is a unique and popular China-centered world map seen in Korean perspective. The typical contents of the traditional Korean atlases during this period consist of the following: a world map bearing the title Ch’ŏnhado, a map of Korea, maps of the eight provinces of Korea, and maps of neighboring countries--China, Japan ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Earth, as Seen by Astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmidt from Apollo 17 The Apollo 17 mission, which took place December 7-19, 1972, was the last of the missions to the moon carried out in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald B. Evans, and Harrison H. Schmitt undertook the mission, which lasted 12 days, 13 hours, and 52 minutes and included a lunar surface stay of 75 hours. The lunar landing site was the highlands and valley area of Taurus-Littrow (20º 16’ north latitude, 30º 77’ east longitude ... Contributed by U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
	Map of the Entire World This early-16th century map by Martin Waldseemüller (1470-1521) is the only known copy of this particular world map, and contains an early appearance of the name “America.” The map is generally known as the “Admiral's Map,” because at one time it was believed to have been the work of Columbus, often referred to as “the Admiral.” Waldseemüller was a German scholar and cartographer who, in 1507, published Cosmographiaie Introductio (Introduction to cosmography) in which he suggested that the New World be called “America.” In the same year, Waldseemüller and ... Contributed by John Carter Brown Library
	A Voyage Round the World, Including an Embassy to Muscat and Siam in 1835, 1836, and 1837 In 1832, U.S. president Andrew Jackson, acting on the advice of Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury, dispatched Edmund Roberts as a “special agent of the government,” empowered to negotiate treaties of amity and commerce with countries in Asia. The objective was to expand trade between these countries and the United States. Between early 1832 and May 1834, Roberts circumnavigated the globe. In the course of his journey, he negotiated treaties with the Sultan of Muscat (Oman) and the King of Siam (Thailand). Following his return to the United ... Contributed by Library of Congress
	Journal of Magellan's Voyage This manuscript volume, dating from around 1525, details Ferdinand Magellan's voyage around the world in 1519-22. The work is attributed to Antonio Pigafetta, a Venetian scholar who was born in Vincenza, Italy, around 1490 and who accompanied Magellan on the voyage. Pigafetta kept a detailed journal, the original of which is lost. However, an account of the voyage, written by Pigafetta between 1522 and 1525, survives in four manuscript versions: one in Italian and three in French. This version, in French, is from the library of Yale University, and ... Contributed by Yale University Library
	Manusyaloka, Map of the Human World Jainism is an Indian religion, which was founded by Vardhamana Mahavira, a spiritual leader called the Jina (conqueror), in the sixth century B.C. Jainism teaches nonviolence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice rely mainly on the effort of advancing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness in a universe that has no beginning or end. Jainism has its own version of geography and cosmology, in which the universe is divided into three kingdoms: the upper is the realm of the heavens and the celestials; the ... Contributed by Library of Congress