1596 / 1612 Matthias Quad map of the World, after Mercator

This is an attractive example of Matthias Quad's 1596 map of the world, modeled on Mercator's 1569 wall map. Quad's reduction is one of the first maps to use the projection bearing Mercator's name, and of these, it is the one that does so the most precisely. In addition, Quad's map relates to Abraham Ortelius' world map by using at the bottom the Latin quotation from Cicero, similarly decorating Ortelius' work: 'For what can seem important in human affairs to someone who is aware of all eternity and the size of the whole world?' Quad has also added the image of Christ in a medallion in the upper left quadrant of the map, bearing the Latin legend 'Our Lord Jesus Christ the founder, redeemer and future judge of the whole world'.

Mercator's World

Although many maps after 1569 reflected Mercator's geography, it was not until after 1596 that maps were produced using Mercator's namesake projection: this among them.

North America

Quad's depiction of the continent - still mostly unexplored by Europeans - is largely speculative. The eastern seaboard juts eastward - a product of inaccurate measurements of longitudes and magnetic variation. Several small rivers appear on the Gulf Coast, but as yet, there was no inkling of the Mississippi. The St. Lawrence is recognizable, and a river emptying into the Gulf of California corresponds roughly to the Colorado. The mythical city of Norumbega is identified along the Atlantic coast. The Pacific Northwest is almost entirely speculative, with the apocryphal kingdoms of Anian (derived from Marco Polo), Quivira (a kingdom of gold associated with Coronado's expedition), and Tolm (derived from Polo) present. Most of the interior of the American Northwest is covered by the portrait of Christ, thus obscuring a region of which mapmakers were entirely ignorant. The curious inclusion of Polo's references in maps of North America underscores the reality that, even in the late 16th century, European cartographers remained uncertain regarding the relationship between Asia and North America.

South America

South America shows Mercator's bulge on the western coast and includes a proto-Amazon and a reasonably well-delineated Rio de la Plata. At the very tip of South America, the Strait of Magellan gives way not to Tierra del Fuego but to the sprawling apocryphal continent of Terra Australis.

Terre Australis

The southern Polar Regions are dominated by the vast apocryphal continent of Terra Australis. Terra Australis was a long-speculated landmass supposedly situated in the southern hemisphere. The theoretical basis for the continent dates to the writings of Aristotle, who taught that the globe must be in balance - so as the Americas counterbalanced Europe and Africa, another undiscovered continent must counterbalance Asia.

Australia and the Pacific

While the map pre-dates the official discovery of Australia in 1606 by Dutchman Willem Janszoon, a large promontory extending northwards from Terra Australis is highly suggestive of the western coast of the southern continent. The lands of Maletur and Lucach (from Polo) are noted along the coast. Mercator may have had access to information about Australia from the Dieppe school maps, believed to have been derived from secret, now lost, Portuguese maps. A small island just west of the Proto-Australian promontory is identified as Java Minor, again sourced from the cosmographic speculations of Marco Polo.

Asia

Most of the interior reveals ignorance: the Caspian Sea is oriented to the east-west, a typical error of the period. Japan is mapped along a 'kite-shaped' model, with a string of small islands in the southwest leading to one major Japanese island clearly identified. There is no sign of Korea. Of the Great Wall, there is no mention. The Spice Islands appear in embryonic form. Sumatra is recognizable, but Java takes on a bulbous form. Borneo has been elongated, and the whole has been absorbed into the Philippine Islands.

Africa

The continent of Africa presents the imaginary interior typical of the period. Two major river systems, the Nile and the Niger, dominate the continent. The Nile follows the Ptolemaic model, extending well into southern Africa.

The Long Arm of Zeno

The North Atlantic displays the debt owed by Mercator to the fraudulent geography of Nicolo Zeno the Younger, whose 1558 mapping of the north parts of the world would be absorbed eagerly by Mercator, to be broadly disseminated well into the 17th century. The depiction of Greenland and Iceland here is consistent with Zeno, as is the appearance of the phantom islands of Frischland and Drogeo. In North America, the Labrador coast bears Zeno's placename 'Estotiland'.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared for inclusion in the 1596 edition of Matthias Quad's Europae, but it would enjoy a long print history in other works. The present example is typographically consistent with examples printed in J. Rauw's 1612 Cosmographia. The map appears on the market from time to time in its various editions.