32 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



Countries are depicted less accurately. Beyond, the outline 

 becomes much less precise, and those charts which attempt 

 to show the Baltic do so very sketchily, in striking contrast 

 to their accuracy elsewhere. It is significant that the portions 

 which depict the coastlines most correctly correspond in 

 general with the regions with which Genoese and Venetian 

 trading activities were highly developed. Venice dominated 

 the trade of the Black Sea, where a factory had been established 

 at Tana on the Sea of Azov in the twelfth century. The Genoese, 

 their keen rivals, were firmly entrenched in the eastern Medi- 

 terranean, and at this period, following their victory over 

 Venice in 1298, were at the height of their prosperity. Both 

 city-states were also established in the ports of northern 

 Africa, and their fleets were ranging as far as the Low 

 Countries. 



The second feature which immediately attracts attention is 

 the system of lines with which they are covered. From two 

 points, in the western and eastern Mediterranean, sixteen or 

 thirty-two lines radiate over the chart, and on the circumference 

 of circles about these points similar subsidiary centres are 

 equally spaced, so that the whole chart is systematically 

 covered. On later charts, these lines spring from the centres of 

 'compass roses', and their purpose is clearly to represent lines 

 of direction. 



On the earlier charts, these groups of radiating lines are not 

 directly associated with a compass, or wind 'rose'. The cardinal 

 points are shown towards the margins of the charts, sometimes 

 by their names alone, in other instances by various symbols, 

 such as drawings of heads. On Petrus Vesconte's chart of 1311, 

 a cross within a circle, also containing the scale, may be intended 

 to indicate the four cardinal points. Angellino de Dalorto's 

 chart of 1325 represents a further stage; on it the north is 

 marked by a circle containing an eight-point star, which it is 

 reasonable to suppose indicates the principal points. It is not 

 until the Catalan map of 1375 that a complete compass rose is 

 found forming an integral part of the system of radiating lines. 

 Since the arrangement of lines is much the same on all, it may 

 be assumed that those on the earlier charts were also intended 

 to represent compass bearings. 



