Naman, Rhys, Sean (AP World G block)

Rhys Osborne: The cartographer of this map was Jan Huygen van Linschoten, a Dutch explorer that was inspired by the ambitious Spanish inhabitants of Holland who subdued the country for a long time. When he moved to a less Spanish–controlled area, he began his interest in exploration. The map is intended for a Dutch and Spanish audience, with the map being in mostly Spanish with the nation names in Roman. What strikes one about this map is that it is flipped 90 degrees on it’s side compared to what one commonly perceives South America to look like. Brasil is in the South, and Antarctica is all the way West. This could say something about how the Europeans saw South America, as they conquered and made maps they had no idea how it was positioned in the global scale. There was not a lot of context when it came to how all of these separate areas were related to each other. It looks as if the map was made as they were going from the top of South America to the bottom, mapping it as East to West because as Europeans from Afro-Eurasia they were not used to a North-South orientation. We obviously know that the map was not made at the same time that the Europeans conquered South America, but it definitely shows how they viewed the area at that time.

Naman Habtom: The cartographer of the map “Europa Regina” was Sebastian Petri who in turn based his woodcut on the map by German cartographer Sebastian Munster. Petri’s woodcut was made in 1580, while the original Munster version, which first appeared in his Cosmographia, was made in 1537, during the height of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, also known as Charles I of the Spanish Empire. Charles, from the House of Habsburg, was able to unite Spain and its dominion, a plethora of German speaking states in central Europe, the Netherlands, and other regions under his rule, the most unified rule of Europe since the days of the Romans. The map has the Iberian peninsula at the top with the crown on it, symbolising Charles’ rule. In addition, Bohemia, the center of the Holy Roman Empire is shown as the heart of Europe, another nod towards Charles’ rule. The map can also be interpreted as showing Europe unified under Christendom during the era that sparked off religious division. The map gives greater focus to Catholic Europe as shown by the minimisation of non Catholic countries such as Russia and the Nordic countries. The common cultural language is Latin, the language of the Catholic Church as well as the educated elite. In addition, Latin seems to be a good choice due to the cultural of diversity not just of Europe but of Charles’ domain. The map does possess a certain level of accuracy, but the cartographer’s intentions lies more in a political oriented direction where the majesty of Europe is given more attention. In addition, it reinforces the mythical origin of Europe reflected in its own name from Greek mythology.

Sean Kelly: “World Map” was created by an anonymous French cartographer in 1491, one year before Christopher Columbus discovered America. This map’s audience would primarily be the French, because of the cartographer’s nationality and because the map is written in French. The map would also be beneficial and influential to all Europeans since the Holy Lands are at the center of the map symbolizing dominance. The map depicts the four corners of the known world; it does not include America because it had not been discovered yet. This map is interesting because it also presents Biblical Eden, which tells us that this map is for religious peoples. This map is interesting because it doesn’t show any sort of countries or borderlines. It just shows major cities and regions of the three continents and the Middle East. Each mound on the map represents a city or region. For example, Vatican City and the Pope consist of one mound with Rome right under it and Ethiopia takes its own mound as well. This map is so perfect to understand the world before America: a popular religious and European map created by a powerful catholic country a year before America was discovered. This map teaches the role of each of the four biggest regions of the known world and their major states. It also shows the influence and importance of the Crusades and religion to the people in this point in history. From this map I understand that people at this time were probably more loyal to their hometowns and states than their region, but were loyal to the Church above all else.