FIFTEENTH-CENTURY WORLD MAPS 63 



of eastern sources in this quarter: for instance, the names of 

 the two islands Negila (Sanskrit^ beautiful) and Mangula 

 {Arabic^ fortunate). 



The island of Diab is probably based on reports of the 

 existence of the great island of Madagascar. There would be no 

 improbability in a vessel being driven down to the latitude of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, or of Arabs at Soffala having some 

 inkling of the trend of the coast to the south. It is extremely 

 unlikely, as has been argued, that the Cape of Diab is nothing 

 more southerly than Cape Guadafui. Fra Mauro himself 

 certainly accepted the possibility of circumnavigating southern 

 Africa. 



On this and other evidence, Fra Mauro reached an important 

 conclusion: 



*'Some authors state of the Sea of India that it is enclosed 

 like a lake, and that the ocean sea does not enter it. But 

 Solinus holds that it is the ocean, and that its southern and 

 south-western parts are navigable. And I affirm that some 

 ships have sailed and returned by this route." 



This map is of special interest as showing that, at least 

 forty years before the Portuguese reached India, Arab sailing 

 directions covering the east coast of Africa, India, and the 

 seas beyond to the vicinity of Sumatra, or at least information 

 derived from such sources, were available in western Europe. 

 Taken as a whole, the map can have offered nothing but 

 encouragement to the Portuguese to persevere. 



By the time Fra Mauro was working on his map, the 

 known world was expanding beyond the conventional frame- 

 work of the circular mappa mundi. This expansion was both to 

 the east and to the west, to Cathay in the east, and to the 

 Atlantic islands in the west. If the diameter of the map was 

 increased to accommodate these new details, the northern 

 and southern quadrants, correspondingly enlarged, looked more 

 empty than ever. In Bianco's world map of 1436, the conti- 

 nental mass is placed excentrically to the embracing ocean, 

 and eastern Asia breaks through the framework in order to 

 leave more space in the west for the insertion of Antillia. 



