15 March 2009

Mappa mundi (1482) and "New Holland" (1804)



My two favorite pix from a Telegraph (U.K.) photoset of a rare map collection presently up for sale.

The top one is a mappa mundi from 1482, depicting the Ptolemaic view of the world. The "Indies" are appropriately on a latitude similar to Africa, which helps illustrate why Columbus sailed south(ward) on his voyages to the Americas.

The bottom one shows Australia in 1804, before God had finished creating Adelaide and Alice Springs.

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