1. This is a DOT story about mythological peoples depicted in the Waldseemuller's Carta Marina of 1516.

2.“Here near the ocean are found men or monsters who have the feet of cattle, a human head, but the face of dogs, and who speak two words, but bark the third.”

These cow-headed people are described by John of Plano Carpini, who traveled to Mongolia in 1245-1247.

 

3. “There are monsters here who have dogs’ heads; their clothes are made of the skins of sheep, and their voice is a dog’s bark.”

This people, often called “cynocephali” (which means “dog-headed”) is mentioned in Pierre d’Ailly in his Ymago mundi (“Image of the World”), which he wrote in 1410, and which influenced Christopher Columbus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynocephaly

4. “Here are found men with one eye who are also called Carimaspians.”

This people, often called “Arimaspians” (rather than “Carimaspians”), is mentioned in Pierre d’Ailly in his Ymago mundi (“Image of the World”), which he wrote in 1410, and which influenced Christopher Columbus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaspi

5. “In this desert there live wild men who do not speak, and they have no joints in their knees, and if they fall they cannot get back up by themselves.”

This curious kneeless people, who are described by the Italian traveler John of Plano Carpini, was probably inspired by the medieval myth that elephants had no knees.

6. “Land of cannibals. Those who inhabit this land are man-eaters.”

Near the text there is an image of one cannibal roasting human body parts on a spit over a fire, and a cannibal couple by a tree from whose branches human body parts are suspended. These are clearly part of the European tradition of alleged New World cannibalism.

1. This image [on map] of King Manuel of Portugal, riding a sea monster and holding his nation’s flag, indicates Portugal’s discovery and mastery of the sea route from Portugal around Africa to India, which opened the door to trade in all the riches of Asia.

Image above from Wikipedia

2. This gap in the coastline means that the mapmaker, Martin Waldseemüller, thought it was still possible that there was a passage to the Pacific just to the north of South America. The Panama Canal was built centuries later to create just such a passage.

3. “The land of Cuba, part of Asia.”

This text reflects how difficult it was at first to understand what Europeans had discovered. The mapmaker follows Christopher Columbus’s belief that the lands he had discovered were an outlying part of Asia, rather than a newly discovered continent.

4. “It has seemed good to postpone fully depicting the entire northern region and its characteristics till I can make a special map because of the controversies of various explorers. However, in a short time I hope to eliminate these [controversies] according to the truth.”

The mapmaker Martin Waldseemüller declines to depict Scandinavia in detail here until he has had a chance to study the latest report and maps in more detail-- a very responsible attitude.

5 “The great regal city of Calicut is the most busy and famous trading center of all of Greater India. Here from different parts of the world various goods flow, particularly from India, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Persia, Ethiopia, Ceylon, Sumatra, Gujarat, Cathay, China, Indian Beyond the Ganges, etc. The goods which are brought there are musk, amber, frankincense, aloe wood, rhubarb, silk, clove, cinnamon, brasil wood, sandalwood, camphor, nutmeg, mace, benzoin, gum lacca, and other minor spices, as well as various types of gems and cloths. Those that grow near Calicut and Cannanore are ginger, pepper, tamarind, cardamom, myrobalan, cassia fistula, civet, storax, etc....”

The beginning of this long text about Calicut (now Kozhikode) shows very clearly what an important trading center it was--and why the Portuguese were so eager to sail around Africa to reach it.

6. This huge text-block lists the sources and prices of the spices available for sale in Calicut, India. The fact that such a large part of the map’s surface is devoted to this subject shows very clearly Europe’s powerful interest in the spice trade.

7. “The great Tartar Gog, or Khan, king of kings and lord of lords.”

The huge size of this portrait of the Emperor of Tartary (which includes parts of what is now Mongolia, China, and the Russian Far East) demonstrates European respect for the power of this Asian potentate, and the size of his empire.

1. Waldseemüller titled his map “Carta marina” (nautical chart), and he copied most of the outlines of the lands from a specific nautical chart that still survives, namely that made by Nicolo Caverio in about 1504, which we see here:

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It is important to note that while Waldseemüller used Caverio’s chart for the outlines of the lands, all of the detail in the interior -- the mountain ranges, cities, peoples, animals, and information about history, politics, and products available -- he added based on his own research.

2. In this long text introducing his map Waldseemüller gives his reasons for making the map and lists some of his sources:

“...while in the depiction of the Mediterranean, Asia and Africa I have made ample use of recent authors’ travel narratives, regional maps, descriptions of countries, and the accounts of some recent explorers, such as that of Ascelinus the monk, who during the papacy of Innocent made extensive explorations in human affairs; of friar Odorico of Pordenone in Friuli, Pierre d’Ailly, friar John of Plano Carpini; Matteo and Marco [Polo], citizens of Venice; Caspar the Jew of India, whose travel narrative was inscribed and sent to the King of Portugal; those by Francesco [de Almeida], Joseph the Indian, Alvise de Cadamosto; Pedro Alvares [Cabral]; the Genoese Christopher Columbus, and the Bolognese Ludovico de Varthema.”

We see then that the map is a composite of information from many different sources, both maps and geographical texts.

3. Waldseemüller borrowed more than half of this long text from an earlier map, namely Johannes Ruysch’s world map of 1507, from the text in the middle of South America:

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This type of borrowing without citing the source was common in the Renaissance.

4. The image of Mecca here is copied from the image of Medina in the 1515 edition of Ludivico di Varthema’s travel narrative:

Again we see that Waldseemüller was using the most recent sources available to him: the book that he used as a source was printed just one year before he printed his map.

5. All of this long text about the sources and prices of the spices available in Calicut, India, comes from a collection of travel narratives titled Paesi novamente retrovati (Newly Discovered Countries) that was first published in 1507.

1. “An animal that looks like this is found here; it has a bag under its belly where it carries its offspring, and it only allows them out for nursing. One such animal was given to the King of Spain in Granada.”

This animal is the opossum, and the image on this map is actually the earliest surviving European image of the animal, which was a great marvel to European explorers and scientists.

 

2. “The walrus is a huge animal, the size of an elephant, and it has two long teeth which are quadrangular, and lacks joints in its legs. It is found in the northern promontories of Norway, and they travel together in groups of two hundred animals.”

This surprising image that depicts the walrus looking like an elephant shows the effects of too little information: the mapmaker had no doubt heard that a walrus was large like and elephant and has tusks like and elephant, but not having a picture of a walrus, depicted it like an elephant.

3. “The animal rhinoceros or monoceros.”

The name “monoceros” (meaning “single-horned”) was often applied to the rhinoceros. The mapmaker copied this image from a print of the rhinoceros made by Hans Burgkmair in 1515, just one year before the map was printed--showing that he used the most recent sources available to him.

4. “Beneath these mountains are basilisks and serpents called reguli, so that this whole area is all but deserted because of them.”

It is not clear what the mapmaker’s source was for the idea that these serpents live under mountains.

5. “Here there are big roosters and hens that do not have plumes or feathers, but wool like sheep, and they produce good eggs.”

Waldseemüller took this information about these wooly chickens from Marco Polo, the famous Venetian explorer.