This map, a portolan chart from the late 15th Century, presents the Mediterranean and the landmasses around it. The map, colorful and probably expensive judging from the use of a whole animal skin for the parchment, can be thought of as consisting of three parts layered over or interacting with each other. The coastlines are elaborately and meticulously drawn, their form matching the expectations of a modern viewer, with the names of coastal towns situated in a sequential order along the part of the land nearest to the coast. The interior of the land is filled with large drawings of castles representing cities, color-coded flags, various animals perhaps thought to be typical of the area, and well-known rivers and mountain systems. The mapmaker made a choice to depict these inland places as larger than their relative size to the land would be; as a result, the inland content grabs a reader’s attention much more quickly than the textual itinerary along the coasts. In addition to this contrast, a network of thin red and black lines, known to scholars as “rhumb lines,” spans the entire map in a systematic and precise fashion. These lines run through coasts and inner land features alike, either in a grid system also visible on the underside of the map, or in radial spokes beginning at various points on the grid. These things seem to indicate that the rhumb lines did have a use in the planning out of space on the map, but it is unclear what larger purpose they would serve to a reader of the map. The prominence of these visuals combined with the systematic rhumb lines and the impressive display of coastal knowledge seem to indicate that the map and others like it were for a wealthy class who would not be using the the map for actual guidance, but to demonstrate geographical knowledge and power.
Judah Abenzara. Seekarte des Iehuda ben Zara : (Borgiano VII), ed. Arthur Dürst. Zürich: Belser Verlag, 1983.
Special Collections, Carleton College, Northfield, MN.
Carleton Library, Special Collections Map (Map, Rolled) G5672.M4 A23 1497