The 16th century was a period of transition in the
history of cartography. When the century began, the recent discovery
of the New World had already altered forever the maps of the
world. When it ended, the first examples of atlases were being
produced. Although Apianus' Cosmography deals with
many cartographic issues, it is not an atlas nor a collection
of maps. Cartographic problems such as the shape of the earth,
map projections and measurement are all part of the discipline
of cosmography, and are integrated into the text. The book presents
very elementary geographical concepts, such as an introduction
to the names of landforms, as well as more sophisticated problems
such as making map projections. The Cosmographia would
therefore have been useful as an elementary text as well as being
of value to more advanced readers. |
On this map, geographic features are illustrated
and named to provide a common terminology
click for larger image |
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