Carta marina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Carta Marina (latin: the book of the sea) is the earliest map over the Nordic countries containing details and placenames. It is in woodcut with nine blocks giving total dimensions of 1.70×1.25 m (height×width) and was created by the Swede Olaus Magnus (1490–1557), temporarily on diplomatic visit in Rome for the Swedish government. However, this situation turned out to be permanent (because his brother Johannes Magnus got in a religious feud with Gustav I of Sweden).
The map is a result of very hard work and it took twelve years to finish. The first copies were printed in 1539 in Venice.
The fact that only a few copies were printed and that pope Paulus III issued a "copyright" that lasted for 10 years, may explain why it was suddenly forgotten when it disappeared in 1574. People later questioned whether it was a myth or whether it had existed. However, in 1886, a copy was found at the Hof- and Staatsbibliothek in Munich, Germany by Dr. Oscar Brenner, where it currently resides. More recently, another copy has been discovered in Switzerland in 1961. It was, however, bought back to Sweden in 1962 by the University Library of Uppsala and is today (2004) stored at Carolina Rediviva.
The map is divided in 3×3 sheets with the dimension 55x40 cm (height×width) each printed from a separate woodcut block. The notes on the map in Latin were translated by Olaus himself into the Italian and German language. It is generally considered that the "A description of the Northern peoples" (Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus, Rome, 1555) is a much larger commentary on the map.
Besides Carta Marina, there are only two earlier maps of Scandinavia (or Schondia) known today, namely those of Ziegler and Clavus.
[edit] References
- (Swedish)"Geografiens och de geografiska upptäckternas historia / Geography and The Geographical Voyager's history" (1899)
- "Carta marina et descriptio : the commentary by Olaus Magnus to Map of the Scandinavian countries 1539", Provisional ed. (1988)
[edit] External links
- "Carta Marina"- Antoine Lafréry's (1512 - 1577) edition from 1572, digitalized by the Royal Library in Stockholm..
- "Michigan University Carta Marina" - the original or Pope Paul III (1468–1549) map from 1539, in jpeg images. The site contain more information on early printing process.
