24 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



The concept represented by these maps seems to 

 be the oldest one. It is followed by another, which 

 was the concept entertained by Columbus, wherein 

 the equator touches or comes very near to the 

 coast of Upper Guinea. The maps of this type 

 are the Contarini-Roselli (1506),^^ Bernardus Sylva- 

 nus (151 1), 44 Ptolemy (i^it,),^'^ Boulenger (i5i4),46 

 Reisch (i5i5),47 Laurentius Frisius (1522), ^^ Ptolemy 

 (i525),49 Thorne (1527), ^o Bordone (1528), ^^ Gry- 

 naeus (1532),^- and Vopel (1543).^^ Three of these 

 indicate the equator crossing the land just north of 

 the Gulf of Guinea. The others all indicate the 

 equator as either just grazing the coast or passing 

 through the gulf very near the coast. 



The third step in the transition from the very poor 

 Ptolemy concept of Africa appears in one map, that 

 known as the Hamy (1502) map,^^ which shows two 

 equators, one marked heavily in the Indian Ocean 

 and crossing the Gulf of Guinea region as the equator 



« Edward Heawood: A Hitherto Unknown World Map of A.D. 1506, 

 Geogr. Journ., Vol. 62, 1923, pp. 279-293, with facsimile of map. 



" Nordenskiold, Facsimile-Atlas, PI. 33. 



« Konrad Kretschmer: Die Entdeckung Amerikas in ihrer Bedeutung 

 fiir die Geschichte des Weltbildes, text and atlas, Berlin, 1892; reference 

 in atlas, PI. 12. 



*^ Ibid., PI. II. 



47 Ibid., PI. 10. 



48 Ibid., PI. 14. 



49 Nordenskiold, Periplus, p. 177. 



50 Nordenskiold, Facsimile-Atlas, PI. 41. 



51 Ibid., PI. 39. 

 " Ibid., PI. 42. 



53 Ibid., PI. 40. 



54 Nordenskiold, Periplus, PI. 45. 



