BELIEF IN ASIA 69 



equivalent of Ptolemy's prime meridian in the For- 

 tunate Isles.) At Cattigara as the coincident point 

 C'Cael" on the Behaim globe) there is then added 

 to the Ptolemy configuration the coast line of eastern 

 Asia according to the Behaim globe. 2° 



Two other land positions are shown on the map. 

 One is the eastern coast of Asia transposed so as to 

 bring the cape at Zaitun on the same meridian as the 

 eastern end of Cuba. This illustrates Columbus' 

 idea of the position of the continental shore as it 

 confronted him on his fourth voyage, inasmuch as 

 from his first and second voyages he took Cuba to 

 be the mainland of Asia, its eastern end correspond- 

 ing to the cape at Zaitun. 



The other is the coastal outline of America from 

 the Juan de la Cosa world map of 1500,-^ which in- 

 corporates Columbus' discoveries to that date, super- 

 imposed in such a manner that the position of the 

 Strait of Gibraltar on the Cosa map is made to coin- 

 cide with its true position on the modern map. The 

 coast is drawn in the same relative position according 

 to latitude and longitude as on the Cosa map, the 

 equator and Tropic of Cancer on that map affording 

 an evaluation of the length of degree used in its rec- 

 tangular projection. The resulting image brings 

 Espaiiola, as located from Columbus' own voyages, 

 close to Cipangu and illustrates how plausible it 

 was for him to take the one for the other. 



20 Ravenstein, op. cit.. Map 2. 



21 See, above, footnote 8 and, below, Fig. 10. 



