The Story of Geographical Discovery | Page 2

knowledge of surrounding countries beyond the Euxine and the Red
Sea.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PTOLEMY.--It will be observed that
the Greek geographer regarded the Indian Ocean as a landlocked body
of water, while he appears to have some knowledge of the so ces of the
Nile. The general tendency of the map is to extend Asia very much to
the east, which led to the miscalculation encouraging Columbus to
discover America.
THE ROMAN ROADS OF EUROPE (drawn specially for this
work).--These give roughly the limits within which the inland
geographical knowledge of the ancients reach some degrees of
accuracy.
GEOGRAPHICAL MONSTERS (from an early edition of
Mandeville's Travels).--Most of the mediæval maps were dotted over
with similar monstrosities.
THE HEREFORD MAP.--This, one of the best known of mediæval
maps, was drawn by Richard of Aldingham about 1307. Like most of
these maps, it has the East with the terrestrial paradise at the top, and
Jerusalem is represented as the centre.

PEUTINGER TABLE, WESTERN PART.--This is the only Roman
map extant; it gives lines of roads from the eastern shores of Britain to
the Adriatic Sea. It is really a kind of bird's-eye view taken from the
African coast. The Mediterranean runs as a thin strip through the lower
part of the map. The lower section joins on to the upper.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO IBN HAUKAL (from Lelewel,
Géographie du mon age).--This map, like most of the Arabian maps,
has the south at the top. It is practically only a diagram, and is thus
similar to the Hereford Map in general form.--Misr=Egypt, Fars=Persia,
Andalus=Spain.
COAST-LINE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN (from the Portulano of
Dulcert, 1339, given in Nordenskiold's Facsimile Atlas).--To illustrate
the accuracy with which mariners' charts gave the coast-lines as
contrasted with the merely symbolical representation of other mediæval
maps.
FRA MAURO MAP, 1457 (from Lelewel, loc. Cit.).--Here, as usual,
the south is placed at the top of the map. Besides the ordinary mediæval
conceptions, Fra Mauro included the Portuguese discoveries along the
coast of Africa up to his time, 1457.
PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES IN AFRICA (from E. J. Payne,
European Colonies, 1877).--Giving the successive points reached by
the Portuguese navigators during the fifteenth century.
PORTUGUESE INDIES (from Payne, loc. Cit.).--All the ports
mentioned in ordinary type were held by the Portuguese in the
sixteenth century.
THE TOSCANELLI MAP (from Kretschmer, Entdeckung Amerikas,
1892).--This is a reconstruction of the map which Columbus got from
the Italian astronomer and cartographer Toscanelli and used to guide
him in his voyage across the Atlantic. Its general resemblance to the
Behaim Globe will be remarked.
THE BEHAIM GLOBE.--This gives the information about the world

possessed in 1492, just as Columbus was starting, and is mainly based
upon the map of Toscanelli, which served as his guide. It will be
observed that there is no other continent between Spain and Zipangu or
Japan, while the fabled islands of St. Brandan and Antilia are
represented bridging the expanse between the Azores and Japan.
AMERIGO VESPUCCI (from Fiske's School History of the United
States, by kind permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)
FERDINAND MAGELLAN (from Fiske's School History of the
United States, by kind permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, &
Co.)
MAP OF THE WORLD, from the Ptolemy Edition of 1548 (after
Kretschmer's Entdeckungsgeschichte Amerikas).--It will be observed
that Mexico is supposed to be joined on to Asia, and that the North
Pacific was not even known to exist.
RUSSIAN ASIA (after the Atlas published by the Russian Academy of
Sciences in 1737, by kind permission of Messrs. Hachette). Japan is
represented as a peninsula.
AUSTRALIA AS KNOWN IN 1745 (from D'Anville's Atlas, by kind
permission of Messrs. Hachette).--It will be seen that the Northern and
Western coasts were even by this time tolerably well mapped out,
leaving only the eastern coast to be explored by Cook.
AUSTRALIA, showing routes of explorations (prepared specially for
the present volume). The names of the chief explorers are given at the
top of the map.
AFRICA AS KNOWN IN 1676 (from Dapper's Atlas).--This includes a
knowledge of most of the African river sand lakes due to the
explorations of the Portuguese.
AFRICA (made specially for this volume, to show chief explorations
and partition).--The names of the explorers are given at the foot of the
map itself.

NORTH POLAR REGIONS, WESTERN HALF (prepared specially
for the present volume from the Citizen's Atlas, by kind permission of
Messrs. Bartholomew).--This gives the results of the discoveries due to
Franklin expeditions and most of the searchers after the North-West
Passage.
NORTH POLAR REGIONS, EASTERN HALF.--This gives the
Siberian coast investigated by the Russians and Nordenskiold, as well
as Nansen's Farthest North.
CLIMBING THE NORTH POLE (prepared specially for this volume).
Giving in graphic form the names of the chief Arctic travellers and the
latitude N. reached