1. It is a rare representative of one of the world’s greatest and most enduring mysteries: Where and how did medieval mapmakers, apparently armed with no more than a compass, an hourglass and sets of sailing directions, develop stunningly accurate maps of southern Europe, the Black Sea and North African coastlines, as if they were looking down from a satellite, when no one had been higher than a treetop? 1500s Cartography! click the pic for full res (it’s stunning)

    It is a rare representative of one of the world’s greatest and most enduring mysteries: Where and how did medieval mapmakers, apparently armed with no more than a compass, an hourglass and sets of sailing directions, develop stunningly accurate maps of southern Europe, the Black Sea and North African coastlines, as if they were looking down from a satellite, when no one had been higher than a treetop?

    1500s Cartography!

    click the pic for full res (it’s stunning)

Notes

  1. allora reblogged this from loganalexander and added:
    “Slim, handsome, intense, bespectacled, Hessler [mathematical wizard and the senior cartographic librarian at the...
  2. loganalexander posted this