Ostrich-Egg Globe Believed Oldest To Show New World 63
The National Post is carrying a report of an exciting discovery for cartographic historians: an ostrich-egg globe purchased last year at the London Map Fair is now believed to be the oldest to show any part of the New World. "In a lengthy essay published in the latest issue of The Portolan, the peer-reviewed journal of the Washington Map Society, Belgian map collector and historical researcher Stefaan Missinne argues that the ostrich-egg globe not only predates the Hunt-Lenox Globe but was probably used as the model for casting the more famous copper object. If true, then the small, unnamed island shown to the far north in the 'Mundus Novus' portion of the egg-globe’s western hemisphere — a crude depiction of the 'New World' as it was understood just a few years after the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and others — is the earliest image of Newfoundland or any other part of Canada on any surviving globe in the world."
More at the Washington Map Society's page.
Native Americans? (Score:0, Interesting)
I suppose the Native Americans didn't use maps or globes?
The Best Kept Secret Fishing Spot (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Canada (Score:2, Interesting)
Who used hard C? Try EVERYONE who spoke or wrote Latin in the Renaissance, which basically meant everyone with any education and literacy. K was only in use for a few rare words (kalendae, sometimes Karthago, but even that usually had a C). "Kanada" would be nigh impossible; "Canada" is exactly what you'd expect. Latin: it's why there's an "America" instead of an "Ameriga" today.
Re:Columbus just followed others maps & routes (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Columbus just followed others maps & routes (Score:2, Interesting)
An interesting book on the Chinese naval expeditions of the time is '1421, The Year China Discovered America' by Gavin Menzies.
I get sad whenever I see someone take Menzies seriously. He is a crank, nothing in his books can be trusted.
Re:Columbus just followed others maps & routes (Score:2, Interesting)
Menzies is an idiot, and Chinese ceramics in Timbuktu are much more easily explained by down-the-line [answers.com] trading than actual voyaging. not to downplay what the Chinese accomplished; Zheng Hei's fleet was certainly technically capable of making transoceanic voyages, but there is absolutely no evidence that they ever did.