Message #47487

[Bianca]

Panel 6 
 



 Old Europe


Waldseemuller borrowed heavily once more from Ptolemy for this region of his new world map. His geographical knowledge was well established between the Atlas Mountains in North Africa and Constantinople in the eastern Mediterranean. There had been ample trade in all regions of this plate for many hundreds of years.

We can easily discern the Scandinavian lands, Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe. Italy (with the Eagle of the Roman Empire) and the Adriatic Sea are skewed rather dramatically eastward and the Bosphorus is clearly marked into the Black Sea.

It is interesting to note the scant information about interior Africa. There are several large rivers that appear to flow from the middle of the Sahara desert. Ethiopia, Egypt and Arabia are marked in the east, as is Libya, though further west.

The closing of the trade routes through Constantinople after 1453 was one of the main reasons for the sudden interest in exploring new routes to the west across an inhospitable sea.