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الوصف
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Jodocus Hondius was a Flemish Dutch cartographer and publisher of maps and a central figure in the golden age of Dutch cartography. He was responsible for publishing the maps of Gerhard Mercator, the single most important cartographer of the age of discovery. The map depicts the realm of the legendary Christian Emperor Prester John in Abyssinia, an object of much speculation in the middle ages up to the early modern period. The map abounds in the fantasies of the time about the interior of Africa, in addition to Prester John there are the lands of the Amazons throughout the southern regions, a nearby lake named Zaire is inhabited by Tritons and Sirens and cannibals threaten the then recently Christianized kingdom of the Congo on the Atlantic coast of Africa, here called the Ethiopian Ocean (Oceanus Aethiopicus) and is shown in more detail in the inset map (possibly derived from Filippo Pigafettas map of the Congo itself derived from the reports of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Lopez). The map also depicts part of Arabia, up to Jeddah on the Red Sea, including Mecca to the north, the area of the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb and along the coast of Yemen up to the area of Dhofar in present day Oman. The modern day Gulf of Aden is here named the Arabian Gulf (Sinus Arabicus). Distances are given in German miles and Spanish leagues., This is a beautiful engraved map of Eastern Africa showing the legendary Kingdom of Prester John, who is said that he was ready to help the Crusaders in their campaign against Muslims. An interesting mistake depicting the deformation of lake Tanganyika and lake Victoria Being very small. The number of rivers is exegerrated. Scale: Milliaria Germanicor, 75, Leucarum Hispanicaru, 87,1/2 [cart. low r. h.], Relief shown pictorially., Includes inset map of "Congi Regni in Africa Christiani Nova Descriptio., From: "Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi..., On verso: Text "Abissinorum et Congi regna," 353,352., Main Heritage Compact General, HC.MAP.00246, Print Map, Item-ID: i11400560, BIB-ID: 1172399, in Latin. |
