140 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



Ptolemaic theory was adhered to in delineating the 

 world eastward from the western coast of Europe. 

 This procedure is evident in the Behaim globe, the 

 Waldseemtiller map of 1507, and other maps that 

 made the distance from Cape St. Vincent to the 

 eastern side of the Sinus Magnus 180°. Indeed, 

 many of the maps of the early sixteenth century dis- 

 tinctly represent both theories. The Waldseemtiller 

 map of 1507 is the first clear example of the whole 

 world so drawn as to embody both theories. The 

 Johan Ruysch map (1508) makes the estimates of 

 Columbus the basis of the map, which Waldseemuller 

 does not quite do. Other cartographers working be- 

 tween 1492 and 1507 avoided the issue by not rep- 

 resenting the whole world. La Costa, for instance, 

 omits that portion between Calicut in India and a 

 point west of Cuba, about 140 degrees. It was, ap- 

 parently, the difficulty of reconciling the Columbian 

 and Ptolemaic theories of geography that led Peter' 

 Martyr^*^ to say: "It is not without cause that cos- 

 mographers have left the boundaries of Ganges India 

 undetermined. There are not wanting those among 

 them who think that the coasts of Spain do not lie- 

 very distant from the shores of India." 



It is evident, therefore, that Harrisse's argument, 

 that the Cantino continental land could not be Asia 

 because an eastern coast of Asia was already repre- 

 sented, is untenable. 



70 MacNutt, op. cit.. Vol. i, p. 92. 



