1550 Münster Map of the World

This is the first, 1550 German edition of the second block of Sebastian Münster's map of the world, one of the most distinctive to be produced during the Age of Discovery. In the mid-sixteenth century, it was the best summation of the rapidly-expanding known world available to the literate European. The map was included in Münster's magnum opus, Cosmographia Universalis, for over forty years was the primary source for anyone who wished knowledge of the world. Consequently, this map would have had a disproportionate impact, providing the first presentation of a circumnavigable world for nearly half a century. It would not be challenged until the 1570 publication of Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. As important as its geographical revelations were, the map is also rich in the imagery of its era: it is bordered with billowing clouds, with wind-heads marking the cardinal directions, puffing their breezes over the waters. The oceans are prowled by eight sea monsters; a sailing ship is shown crossing the Pacific and proudly firing its cannons.

An Impressive Array of Firsts

Along with Münster's map of America, this is the first map to name the Pacific Ocean and the Straits of Magellan. It ranks among the earliest acquirable maps to show and name Japan (Zipangri, here just off the American coast.). In conjunction with Munster's concurrently-published map of Asia, this is the first map to show Asia in a form shorn of Ptolemaic elements: there is no 'Dragon's Tail' or other element retained from Ptolemy's land bridge connecting Africa and China, and it is the first generally acquirable world map to hint at the East India. As distinct from the Ptolemaic maps of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, the island 'Taprobana' is shown not as Sri Lanka, but as Sumatra.

Likewise, it is one of the earliest acquirable world maps to show the continent of Africa in recognizable form. Madagascar appears in roughly the correct location. Oddly, Zanzibar appears as an island much farther out from land. Africa's interior nonetheless retains the Ptolemaic geography for the course of the Nile, and its sources in the Mountains of the Moon.

More to the point, this is the first generally accessible world map to show entirely circumnavigable globe. This map presents a world fully accessible to mariners, via the Straits of Magellan, the optimistically-sized Pacific Ocean, and the unobstructed Indian Ocean. This notion was new to Münster's readers, even thirty years after Magellan sailed.

Speculative Geography

There being vast gaps in European scholars' knowledge of the Americas, Münster and any other geographers of his era had to fill in with speculation - leading to a wealth of unusual features. The wedge-like bay bisecting North America was derived from interpretations' of Verrazano's observations during his 1524 voyage. This so-called 'Sea of Verrazano' would also appear on Münster's map of America. The northern parts of the world betray gaps in European knowledge: the part of Europe associated with Scandinavia extends far to the west, absorbing Greenland. In North America, the Florida peninsula is just recognizable, although the entire region west of Verrazano's Sea is identified as 'Terra Florida.' The northeastern coast is marked only with an island named 'Corterati', probably a reference to Newfoundland after the Corte Reals. The Caribbean is represented by the two principal islands of Cuba and Hispaniola.

Publication History and Census

The first iteration of this map appeared in Münster's 1540 edition of Ptolemy's Geographia, appearing in all but the 1552 edition of that work as well as the first, German editions of Münster's Cosmographia. In 1550, the woodblock for the map was re-cut, introducing compositional improvements but leaving most of the geographical features unchanged. This example appeared in the German edition of 1550, the first year this second block was in use. While this map and various editions of Cosmographia are well represented in institutional collections, this specific state of the map is not separately catalogued in OCLC.