New Worlds
Maps from Europe’s Age of Discovery
1475 to 1899
200+ Maps & Explorers
HC DJ
Take a journey into the past, to a world where exotic beasts and even stranger locals stalk cartographic voids, where sea monsters and floating islands lurk beyond uncertain shores, where the borders between myth and reality are blurred. Here, gathered from five centuries of exploration, are over 200 maps of oceans and continents, mountains and forests, cities and shires. Presented in chronological order, these maps record the adventures and discoveries, not to mention fantasies and outright lies of explorers, merchants and travelers. Taken together, they chart our discovery of the world as science, legend, politics and art are blended together by the cartographer's craft. Presenting an illustrated history of the Age of Discovery, New Worlds displays our finest maps and tells the stories of the explorers, rulers, scientists, artists and charlatans who created them.
The collection begins with the medieval era, strange unscientific depictions of the world that bears little resemblance to geographic reality, through to the earliest semi-accurate depictions of Europe and the rest of the world, taking us through the age of European discoveries and into the era of colonialism.
Each map is contextualized in its proper historical setting and a wealth of information is offered into the process of exploration and cartography. It's not all world maps and capital cities: a rare map depicting the battle of Pinkie Cleugh shows the first post-medieval battle in the British Isles, and a pair of Spanish plates displays the Aztec and Inca capitals in all their glory.
There are a few interesting oddities thrown in the collection as well, such as Holland depicted as a roaring lion. Early maps display many fantastical features and much heraldic pageantry, but as we move through the ages, the maps become more scientific and precise.
Whereas the earliest maps seem to be designed to evoke awe and display status, the later examples are clearly the tools of administrators and imperialists. Ominously, the collection concludes on a comic map-parody of late 19th century European geopolitics.
More than simply a folio of maps, this is a cartographic record of the changing European relationship with the wider world: from curiosity to control.
This hardcover book with dust jacket measures 18” x 14 ½” and is in excellent condition. The 200+ pages are pristine, but the dust jacket shows some wear.
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