Portolan Charts and the Environment: Rivers, Trade, and Connectivity
Portolan charts were a prominent form of nautical navigation chart in the Middle Ages through the early modern period. These maps were made for a number of different purposes, serving as practical navigational tools and as luxury art pieces meant to be displayed by merchants, sailors, and other wealthy individuals. While much attention has been paid to these maps in the context of the nautical world, little focus has been given to the presence of rivers across this genre of mapping. Beyond their aesthetic value, depictions of rivers in portolan charts hold the possibility to inform readers about the ways in which maritime travelers could interact with inland waterways, trade networks, and a larger system of connectivity.
Rivers depicted in portolan charts are almost always drawn in relation to port cities, with their mouths connecting directly to harbors. Taking a practical approach, chart makers likely illustrated these rivers because they could pose navigational hazards to sailors. River mouths may emit debris, change currents, and affect water quality through the introduction of freshwater. Yet, this raises the question, why extend illustrations of rivers so deep into inland regions, and more importantly, why take the time to illustrate cities along the banks of these rivers?
A possible explanation to this question is trade. Merchants used portolan charts to navigate across oceans and exchange goods at their final destination. Illustrated rivers which connected to port cities could be interpreted as an extension of that system, signaling avenues along which traders could move goods inland. This is particularly salient considering the fact that at this time in Northern Europe, boats had been developed which were able to navigate the region's rivers. In this light, the rivers which extend across Northern Europe in Andrea Benincasa’s portolan chart, illustrated in 1508, take on a new meaning as we can begin to imagine them populated by small vessels engaged in an exchange of goods, people, and ideas between inland regions and the coast.
Beyond trade, we can see these rivers as indicative of expansive regional connectivity and serving as central points of inland habitation. In the Columbus Map, rivers stretch deep into the center of the African continent from ports on the northern and western coasts. This not only indicates the knowledge of the map maker – who is believed by some to be Cristopher Columbus – but also illustrates the ways in which these areas are connected to the rest of the world. Furthermore, city vignettes often line the banks of rivers. These illustrations underscore the ways in which local populations may centralize around rivers. Nowhere is this more clear than Piri Reis’ depiction of the Nile in the Khalili Portolan Atlas. In this map, Reis depicts the Nile entirely separated from the ocean. Not only does this separation shed light on the importance of the river, but the city vignettes that run its length underscore its importance as it both orients and connects local communities.
References
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Astengo, Corradino. “The Renaissance Chart Tradition in the Mediterranean.” in The History of Cartography, vol. 3, part 1, Cartography in the European Renaissance, ed. David Woodward. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Blockmans, Wim, Mikhail Krom, and Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz. “Maritime Trade around Europe 1300–1600.” In The Routledge Handbook of Maritime Trade around Europe 1300–1600, ed. Wim Blockmans, Mikhail Krom, and Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, 1st ed., 1–11. New York, NY : Routledge, 2017. https:// doi.org/10.4324/9781315278575-1.
Unger, Richard W. “Ships and Sailing Routes in Maritime Trade around Europe 1300–1600.” In The Routledge Handbook of Maritime Trade around Europe 1300–1600, ed. Wim Blockmans, Mikhail Krom, and Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, 1st ed., 17–35. New York, NY : Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315278575-2.
Yilmaz, Ibrahim. “A Historical Review of the Geographical Information on the Source of the Nile Contained Within the ‘Book of Navigation’ (Kitab-ı Bahriye).” Area 47, no. 3 (September 2015): 272–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12190.