84 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



margin, below a drawing of St. Christopher in the neck of 

 the skin, is the inscription "Juan de la Cosa la fizo en el puerto 

 de s: maria en afio de 1500". The chart is in the style of earlier 

 marine charts, with compass roses and direction lines. The 

 scale is given by a line of dots, unnumbered and unexplained; 

 the distance between the points however is apparently in- 

 tended to represent fifty miles. The northern tropic and the 

 equator are drawn, but degrees of latitude or longitude are not 

 indicated. In the west are the discoveries of Cabot in the north 

 and of Columbus and the Spaniards in the West Indies and 

 along the north-eastern coasts of South America. The Bahamas 

 group is shown with some accuracy but necessarily on a small 

 scale. It includes the island Guanahani, Columbus' first landfall, 

 alternatively known as San Salvador and now identified with 

 Watling Island. No special emphasis is given to this memorable 

 locality. Off the South American coast is a large "island 

 discovered by the Portuguese", representing Cabral's dis- 

 covery of Brazil in 1500. The chart-maker appears to have 

 considered the American coastline to be continuous from 

 north to south, but this cannot be asserted with certainty, 

 as the Central American area is hidden by the drawing of St. 

 Christopher. 



The eastern margin of the map cuts down the continent of 

 Asia beyond the 'Ganges', so that the coastline is not shown. 

 The most conspicuous feature in this quarter is the triangular 

 island of 'Trapobana'. 



In latitude the map extends from the Scandinavian penin- 

 sula to the southwards of the African continent. The African 

 coast as far as the Cape of Good Hope is represented with fair 

 accuracy, from Portuguese sources. The eastern coast however 

 seems to be entirely imaginary. In the Indian Sea, almost in 

 the centre, are two large islands, 'Zanabar' and 'Madagascoa', 

 as on Behaim's globe. The sole indication of da Gama's voyage 

 is the inscription "Tierra descubierta por el Rey don Manuel 

 de Portugal" on the south coast of Asia; the outline of the 

 coast however is no improvement on that of the Catalan map of 

 1375. 



The map in fact has every appearance of having been put 

 together from at least two sections: the western portion com- 



