Abstract
Abstract. This paper deals with the Mapa mondi drawn and written in about 1375. It is my starting study about this important map of the medieval period in the Catalan language and the finest work to come from the Majorcan cartographic school of the fourteenth century. The aim of this paper is to give a general overview of the publication with some details on descriptions of the portion of Asia, and in more details as regards China. This map is known also as the Catalan Atlas, because it is composed of several tables sketching out the world known at that time, from the Atlantic Coast of Europe to the Pacific Coast of East Asia. The main sources for the eastern parts of the world were travelogues of Marco Polo, John Mandeville, and Odoric of Pordenone. The presumable author of the Catalan Atlas, Cresques Abra-ham (1325–1387), a Jewish cartographer from Palma, was “master of mappæ mundi and compasses” to Peter IV (III), the King of Aragon. He worked on the atlas with his son Jehudà, who after the Aragonese persecutions of 1391, converted to Christianity. The atlas contained the latest information on Africa, Asia, and China and was considered to be the most complete picture of geographical knowledge as it stood in the later Middle Ages. The translations of original texts and interpretations, based on facsimiles of original source and on secondary sources until 2016, will be a part of this paper.
Highlights
In 1977, Urs Graf Verlag GmbH Publishing House in Dietikon (Zürich metropolitan area, Switzerland), a wellknown publisher of replicas of rare books, has published a facsimile of an outstanding Catalan cartographic work of the fourteenth century, the Mapa mondi of 1375
The Catalan Atlas is the finest work to come from the Majorcan cartographic school (Escola Cartogràfica Mallorquina) of the fourteenth century
The Majorcan carto-graphic school is the term coined by historians to refer to the collection of predominantly Jewish cartographers, cosmographers and navigational instrument-makers and some Christian associates that flourished in Majorca in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries until the expulsion of the Jews
Summary
In 1977, Urs Graf Verlag GmbH Publishing House in Dietikon (Zürich metropolitan area, Switzerland), a wellknown publisher of replicas of rare books, has published a facsimile of an outstanding Catalan cartographic work of the fourteenth century, the Mapa mondi of 1375. The Majorcan carto-graphic school is the term coined by historians to refer to the collection of predominantly Jewish cartographers, cosmographers and navigational instrument-makers and some Christian associates that flourished in Majorca in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries until the expulsion of the Jews. This school is frequently contrasted with the contemporary Italian cartographic school. Most probably produced in 1375, or shortly after this year, the Catalan Atlas was attributed, though without certain-ty, to Cresques Abraham, a fourteenth-century Jewish cartographer from Palma (Ciutat de Mallorca), the capital of Majorca in the Balearic Islands. The result is that the atlas represents a transitionary step towards the world maps developed later during the Renaissance, especially by its extensive application of contemporary geographical knowledge and ambitious scope
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
