Description

Matthaus Merian, was a publisher and engraver renowned for his town views. This world map from his Neuwe Archontologia Cosmica is presented on Mercator’s projection and is closely copied from Blaeu’s world map of 1606. Germanic script for the text is used and the Latin title is repeated in Gothic script below.

The seas are decorated with ships, compass roses and galleons. The lower corners have insets of the north and south poles.

Noted at the top of the map is the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus’s in 1492 and Terra Australis Incognito is shown as extending along the entire lower area of the map. The naming of Beach the northern tip of Terra Incognito, can be traced back to Fine’s 1532 world map which was based on information of Marco Polo’s incorrectly scribed accounts.