This map, by Philip Lea, illustrated the world in the perspective of Western Europeans in 1687. Though the cartographer drew in London, it was believed that the plate might have been recycled from a Dutch one because of the early naming of Pennsylvania. However, there are drawings on the outside of the world that suggest English origin because of the intellectual connotations of the art. If this map was Dutch, then the connotations in the art would be more mystical rather than intellectual. The map, as with most world maps of this era, was drawn very ethnocentric, with Europe being in the center and enlarged.
Lea probably drew this map for an audience of intellectuals. There are drawings of outer space around the Earth. Each of these drawings is a representation of outer space by different scholars and astronomers. These drawings include works by Athanasius Kutcher, Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe, and Giovanni Domenico Cassini. In these drawings, Roman symbols and names are used for the planets, which again demonstrates that only intellectuals and people educated in ancient texts would be able to read it. The cartographer drew this map at towards the end of the scientific revolution, so it naturally promoted the study of astrology and the pursuit of knowledge.
The map above, "Mediterranean Sea", was created by the Dutch baroque artist Romeyn de Hooghe in 1694; and depicts the importance of Mediterranean ports in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was one of the many European maps made between the 16th and 18th century featured in the La Jolla Map Museum; which AP history students had the pleasure of visiting a while ago. On the large map, thirty-eight (38) important trading cities and ports along the coast were labeled with small grid marks; and were enlarged along the sides -creating a sort of embellished border around the actual map- to demonstrate their wealth and power. The map also illustrates the extensive slave trade between the core nations. Similar to how de Hooghe created his other nine (9) maps, the embellishments in “Mediterranean Sea” were done using etching, whereas the map itself was properly engraved. De Hooghe was commissioned to create the map in French by William of Orange, the King of England and the Netherlands; ergo his audience was -in addition to William of Orange- most likely the rich nobles and/or scholars of England and the Netherlands. Despite the fact that the words of the map are in French, politically, de Hooghe favored William of Orange over the actual French king, Louis XIV, who he disparged. The beautiful details included in de Hooghe’s map, such as the rich record of sailing routes, extensive inventory or ports, as well as the incorporation of chained Africans being transported, seems to insinuate that it was equally a statement of territorial dominance as it was a geographic map.
While visiting the La Jolla Map Museum, a pre-Colombian world map was seen by the numerous students in Mrs. Golub’s AP European History class and Mr. Shulman’s AP World History class. This map is one of the world maps made prior to when Columbus discovered the Americas. It was published in 1482, but the buyer went bankrupt, so the map was republished in 1486 with brown paint used to represent water instead of blue because the buyer could not afford the blue paint. The map was based most likely based on Ptolemy’s work, but it is extended to include Scandinavia. This map was probably made for a royal or a noble because at that time maps had to be hand painted, since Gutenberg hadn’t created the printing press yet. This map was a wood print, and its cartographer was Johann Schnitzer.
The language on this map is Latin, which was probably the most universal European language at the time. It is clearly European because of the use of Latin. One reason the map was written in Latin is because this map was only made for educated people; the nobles probably didn’t expect the peasants to be able to read the map. At the time, knowing the worlds' shape was power. This map is most likely demonstrating the Renaissance period by including what is assumed to be the wind gods. This shows the strict religion based culture dissolving by demonstrating a non-Christian monotheistic belief in multiple gods that symbolizes the Early Modern Era. It is also clearly European because it demonstrated the concept that was assumed correct until proven wrong in 1488 when Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The idea was that the obstacle of Africa could never be avoided, and that it was impossible to round Africa, and reach the Indian Ocean trade by sea. This is important because it shows how Columbus would go the other direction to reach the riches of the East. This map also shows the limited perspective of the Europeans. It only includes AfroEurasia, and shows no knowledge of Australia, or anything under Africa. This map is also highly out of proportion. It adds extra landmasses in the Indian Ocean that don’t really exist. It also makes what seems to be Sri Lanka larger than it is portrayed to be on modern maps. This map is also clearly Ethnocentric because it makes Europe proportionally larger that it is on modern maps. In addition, the map shrinks the importance of Asia by making Asia proportionally smaller. Over all, even though this map is clearly a far stretched version of the modern acceptable world map, it was key in the discovery of the Americas.
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