1455 Nautical Chart by Bartolomeo Pareto

Bartolomeo Pareto was a medieval priest and

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

who is best known for his sole surviving work, a 1455 nautical chart of the known world. The chart is highly ornate and is notable for its depiction of

Antillia Antillia (or Antilia) is a phantom island that was reputed, during the 15th-century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain. The island also went by the name of Isle of Seven Cities (''Ilha das Se ...

, a

phantom island A phantom island is a purported island which was included on maps for a period of time, but was later found not to exist. They usually originate from the reports of early sailors exploring new regions, and are commonly the result of navigati ...

said to exist in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. Thought to have been lost in the mid-1800s, the Italian geographer

Pietro Amat di San Filippo Pietro Amat di San Filippo (Cagliari, 22 October 1826 – Rome, February 15, 1895) was an Italian geographer, historian and bibliographer. Family He was born to a noble Sardinian Marquess of Saint Philip, family of Catalonia, Catalan origin. H ...

reported having located it in a storage room in the library of the

Roman College The Roman College ( la, Collegium Romanum, it, Collegio Romano) was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 11 years after he founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). It quickly grew to include classes from elementary school t ...

in 1877.

Notes

15th-century Genoese people 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 15th-century Italian cartographers {{Italy-bio-stub