![Ortelius’ Typus Orbis Terrarum, first published in Antwerp in 1570 as part of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, often considered the first modern atlas.THE UNIVERSAL WORLDThis map contains in itself the description of the whole Earth with the Sea, as it surrounds and crosses it, and divides it according to the Moderns into five parts, named: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Magellanica.This last part is partly well known and partly still little discovered. Europe is the part in which, among all antiquities, the first authors placed Christianity. It is bordered all around by the sea, except on the side where it joins Asia, from which it is separated by the river Tanais, and then by a line imagined by us, drawn from the source of that river to the Septentrional Sea, near the harbor of St. Nicholas, where the English sail with their merchandise to reach Russia.Asia is likewise surrounded by the sea, except where it joins Europe and where it is joined to Africa, as one may see, between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, between the country of Judea and Egypt. Africa is separated from Asia only by that narrow point of the Isthmus.As for America, no one knows for certain whether it is surrounded by the sea, or whether it joins Asia on the side of the north, as many have thought. Yet our opinion is that it is an island, following the best geographer of our time, Gerard Mercator.The fifth part, situated under the South Pole, which we call Magellanica, has only been discovered by one or two places, such as the Strait of Magellan, where it is called Tierra del Fuego, and near New Guinea, which is thought by some to be part of it.Since each of the places of the world is seen on this map by part of the sky under which it lies, that is enough to guide us. We will therefore not say more about it here, and will instead give a brief description of the sea, because the knowledge of the sea, when joined to that of the land, gives us a complete form of the globe. No one, so far as we know, has undertaken to do this.]()
Ortelius’ Typus Orbis Terrarum, first published in Antwerp in 1570 as part of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, often considered the first modern atlas.
THE UNIVERSAL WORLD
This map contains in itself the description of the whole Earth with the Sea, as it surrounds and crosses it, and divides it according to the Moderns into five parts, named: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Magellanica.
This last part is partly well known and partly still little discovered. Europe is the part in which, among all antiquities, the first authors placed Christianity. It is bordered all around by the sea, except on the side where it joins Asia, from which it is separated by the river Tanais, and then by a line imagined by us, drawn from the source of that river to the Septentrional Sea, near the harbor of St. Nicholas, where the English sail with their merchandise to reach Russia.
Asia is likewise surrounded by the sea, except where it joins Europe and where it is joined to Africa, as one may see, between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, between the country of Judea and Egypt. Africa is separated from Asia only by that narrow point of the Isthmus.
As for America, no one knows for certain whether it is surrounded by the sea, or whether it joins Asia on the side of the north, as many have thought. Yet our opinion is that it is an island, following the best geographer of our time, Gerard Mercator.
The fifth part, situated under the South Pole, which we call Magellanica, has only been discovered by one or two places, such as the Strait of Magellan, where it is called Tierra del Fuego, and near New Guinea, which is thought by some to be part of it.
Since each of the places of the world is seen on this map by part of the sky under which it lies, that is enough to guide us. We will therefore not say more about it here, and will instead give a brief description of the sea, because the knowledge of the sea, when joined to that of the land, gives us a complete form of the globe. No one, so far as we know, has undertaken to do this.
18 days ago
