The Story of Majorca and MinorcaMarkham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
History
The Story of Majorca and Minorca
Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
Balearic Islands (Spain) -- History
The outline of the Mediterranean is almost exactly correct. The lines
of the Valseca _portolano_ placed over the coast-lines of a modern
chart correspond very nearly, especially the western part. Italy is
slightly out in longitude. The Valseca _portolano_ includes Great
Britain, Ireland, Jutland, the Euxine and Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea
painted bright red. The chart is covered with rhumb-lines. The Nile is
separated into two, one taken through Abyssinia and the other away to
the Niger region. There are kings on their thrones, and every country
has its arms painted on flags. The golden shield of Aragon, with its
four pales gules, flies over Aragon, Majorca, Sardinia, and Sicily. It
is interesting to see the south of Spain painted green, for the Moors
were still at Granada. There are several legends in minute handwriting
on the map. Majorca may well be proud of having in her island in this
priceless map the most valuable and interesting geographical document
of the fifteenth century. Next to it comes the _mapa mondi_ of Jayme
Cresques, also of Catalonian origin, and now in the Bibliothèque
Nationale of Paris.
The fame of the geographers of Majorca, for their profound knowledge
as navigators and skill as cartographers, spread over Europe. When
Prince Henry founded his celebrated school for pilots at Sagres,
as an essential part of his plans for the discovery of the African
coast, he found no one more competent to direct it than ‘Maestro
Jacome de Mallorca,’ a most able navigator and constructor of nautical
instruments. But the Majorcan sailors did not confine themselves to
these important studies, nor to cruises in the Mediterranean. They
undertook voyages beyond the Pillars of Hercules in very early times.
On August 10, 1346, Jayme Ferrar set sail from Palma, passed through
the Straits, and coasted along Africa as far as the mouth of the Rio
del Oro, five degrees south of that Cape Nun which the Portuguese did
not round until 1419.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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