Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8): Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
History
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. 2 (of 8): Spanish Explorations and Settlements in America from the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Century
America -- Discovery and exploration; America -- History; United States -- History
It will be seen that, with the exception of the vague limits of the
“Regalis Domus,” there was no sign of the continental line of North
America in this map of Sylvanus. Much the same views were possessed by
the maker of the undated Lenox globe, which probably is of nearly the
same date, and of which a further account is given elsewhere.[441]
[Illustration: DA VINCI, NORTHERN HEMISPHERE (_original draft
reduced_).]
Another draft of a globe, likewise held to be of about the same date,
shows a similar configuration, except that a squarish island stands in
it for Florida and adjacent parts of the main. This is a manuscript
drawing on two sheets preserved among the Queen’s collections at
Windsor; and since Mr. R. H. Major made it known by a communication,
with accompanying fac-similes, in the _Archæologia_,[442] it has been
held to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci, though this has been recently
questioned.[443]
[Illustration: DA VINCI, SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE (_original draft reduced_).
Another sketch of this hemisphere is given in _Harper’s Monthly_,
December, 1882, p. 733.]
If deprived of the associations of that august name, the map loses much
of its attraction; but it still remains an interesting memorial of
geographical conjecture. It is without date, and can only be fixed in
the chain of cartographical ideas by its internal evidence. This has
led Major to place it between 1512 and 1514, and Wieser to fix it at
1515-1516.[444] A somewhat unsatisfactory map, since it shows nothing
north of “Ysabella” and “Spagnollo,” is that inscribed _Orbis typus
universalis juxta hydrographorum traditionem exactissime depicta_,
1522, L. F., which is the work of Laurentius Frisius, and appeared in
the Ptolemy of 1522.[445]
[Illustration: DA VINCI (_newly projected_).
This follows the projection as given by Wieser in his
_Magalhaês-Strasse_, who dates it 1515-1516.]
A new element appears in a map which is one of the charts belonging
to the _Yslegung der Mer-Carthen oder Cartha Marina_, said also to be
the work of Frisius, which was issued in 1525, in exposition of his
theories of sea-charts.[446]
[Illustration: CARTA MARINA OF FRISIUS, 1525.]
[Illustration: COPPO, 1528.
This is drawn from a sketch given by Kohl in his manuscript, “On the
Connection of the New and Old World on the Pacific Side,” preserved in
the American Antiquarian Society’s Library. There is another copy in
his Washington Collection.
The map is explained by the following key: 1. Asia. 2. India.
3. Ganges. 4. Java major. 5. Cimpangi [Japan]. 6. Isola verde
[Greenland?]. 7. Cuba. 8. Iamaiqua. 9. Spagnola. 10. Monde nuova [South
America].]
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