CARTOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT DISCOVERIES 99 



observationibus', and certainly draws on sources later than 

 Contarini. The Indian sub-continent has much better pro- 

 portions, but the Far East is in general still Ptolemaic, and the 

 three 'Ceylons' occur again. The inscription identifying 

 Zimpangu with Hispaniola is repeated, but there is an interest- 

 ing addition; 20° west of the Azores is inserted *Antilia 

 insula', the mythical island in the Atlantic, which first appears 

 on charts of the early fifteenth century. 



In South America there are also important additions. The 

 eastern coast is continued southwards to the 'Rio de Cananor' 

 in 30° S., and it is noted that exploration has extended to 50° S. 

 latitude, a reflection of Amerigo Vespucci's voyage of 1501.^ 

 In the north, there is an isolated portion of the mainland, 

 probably Florida, and the Portuguese discoveries in the far 

 north, with the addition of Greenland, are again shown as part 

 of Asia. 



With the Ruysch map, a conventional representation of the 

 world, current from the 'eighties of the previous century, dis- 

 appeared from general circulation. Its place was taken in 

 geographical circles by conceptions popularized by Martin 

 Waldseemiiller in his great world map of 1507, and his 'Carta 

 marina' of 1516. The world map of 1507 is a massive woodcut 

 in twelve sheets, on a single cordiform projection. Its title 

 accurately describes it as "according to the tradition of Ptolemy 

 and the voyages of Amerigo Vespucci and others". (As is well 

 known, it was Waldseemiiller who in his 'Introductio' proposed 

 the name America for the newly found western lands.) Joseph 

 Fischer and F. von Wieser showed conclusively in their memoir 

 on the unique copy of this map, that the source for the new 

 discoveries was the Canerio world chart, and not merely a copy 

 of this but the actual surviving chart. The south-east coast of 

 South America is carried to 50° S. (cf. the notes on the Ruysch 

 map). The eastern coast of the Central American isthmus is 

 inserted, separated by an extremely narrow strait from the 

 small portion, extending a little north of Florida, of the northern 

 mainland, which is also represented. Northern Africa and Asia 



^For this voyage, and the cartography of South America in general, see 

 the important study by Roberto Levillier, 'America la bien llamada', 2 vols. 

 Buenos Aires, 1948. 



