Leonardo's unique equilateral triangular design is applied for a world map. It is a map drawn using the "

octant projection The octant projection or octants projection, is a type of map projection proposed the first time, in 1508, by Leonardo da Vinci in his Codex Atlanticus. Leonardo's authorship would be demonstrated by Christopher Tyler, who stated "For those projec ...

" and dated by

Richard Henry Major Richard Henry Major (October 3, 1818 – June 25, 1891) was a geographer and map librarian who curated the map collection of the British Museum from 1844 until his retirement in 1880. Biography Major was born in Shoreditch in 1818 to Richard Ma ...

to approximately 1514. It was found loosely inserted among a Codex of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

. It features an early use of the name

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The map incorporates information from the travels of Amerigo Vespucci, published in 1503 and 1505. Additionally, the map depicts the Arctic as an ocean and Antarctica as a continent of about the correct size. The likelihood that the map, found among Leonardo da Vinci's papers preserved in Windsor, was drawn by Leonardo himself has not been completely accepted by scholars. According to Major, who published the map in 1865 and defended its authenticity, the date indicated would be doubtful also because Florida is drawn as an island with the name of TERRA FLORIDA.

Description

Da Vinci developed the concept of dividing the surface of the globe into eight spherical equilateral triangles based on his botanical drawings. Each section of the globe is bounded by the Equator and two meridians separate by 90°. This was the first map of this type. Some critics believe that the existing map was not really an autograph work, since the precision and expertise in the drawing does not reflect the usual high standards of da Vinci. They suggest that it was probably done by a trusted employee or copyist at Leonardo's workshop. Da Vinci's authorship would be demonstrated by Christopher Tyler in his paper entitled "Leonardo da Vinci’s World Map", in which he provides examples of derivative maps in a similar projection to da Vinci's. The map was originally documented by R. H. Major in his work ''Memoir on a mappemonde by Leonardo da Vinci, the earliest map Being Known hitherto container containing the name of America'' Grothe. The eight triangles are configured as two four-leaf clovers side by side, with the earth poles in the center of each clove. One of the sides of the eight triangles (the one opposite the center of the pseudo clover), forms one fourth of the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

, the remaining two (those that converge to the center of the pseudo clover) forming the two meridians that, combined with the equator, dissect the globe into eight octants. The name of "Florida" (Terra Florida), correctly placed opposite Cuba although in form of "an island", is used after the discovery of Florida in 1513 and the return of Ponce de Leon's expedition.

Authorship

Leonardo's map authorship it is not universally accepted, with some authors being completely against any minimal contribution from him, either in the map or in the type of

projection Projection, projections or projective may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphic ...

used; among them,

Henry Harrisse Henry Harrisse (May 28, 1829 – May 13, 1910) was a writer, lawyer, art critic, and American historian who authored books on the discovery of America and geographic representations of the New World. Biography Henry Harrisse was born Hen ...

(1892), or

Eugène Müntz Eugène Müntz (11 June 1845 in Soultz-sous-Forêts, Bas-Rhin – 30 October 1902 in Paris) was an Alsatian- French art historian. From 1873 to 1876 he was a member of the École française de Rome.Ostrich Egg Globe The Ostrich Egg Globe is a hollow terrestrial globe made from the conjoined lower halves of two ostrich eggs. The owner of the globe claims that it was made in the early 16th century and is the first globe to depict the New World (with North Am ...

, Stefaan Missinne has written a book in which he argues that the authorship of the design of the map is Leonardo's. In contrast the cartographic content is by a third hand. The manuscript world map intended to be glued has been attributed to Melzi, because of the type of lettering used and because of his proximity to Leonardo during his stay in France. Missinne finds it difficult to substantiate this attribution. He argues that on the map, the capital letters and small letters are used in combination, which is contradictory to Leonardo´s customary practice. In addition, an unhatched mountain range in South America, is depicted showing only one not particularly “attractive” river. Missinne argues that the precise level of detail, for which Leonardo was known, is lacking. In contrast, the maker drew many toponyms on the coastal ranges, which shows that he must have used a portolan map as a template. The oceans do bear names and the spelling has only a few “mistakes,” i.e. variants such as “Brazill” ending with a double “l.” The letter “z” on C (abo) B (ona) speranza differs considerably from Leonardo’s types of “z.” which is also the case for the “b” in “Abatia”. The Missinne's findings, however, are disputed. Several scholars explicitly accept the authorship of both (map and

: "..the eight of a supposed globe represented in a plane.."), completely as Leonardo's work, describing the octant projection as the first of this type, among them, R. H. Major (1865) in his work ''Memoir on a mappemonde by Leonardo da Vinci, being the earliest map hitherto known containing the name of America,'' Grothe, the "Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana" (1934), Snyder in his book ''Flattening the Earth'' (1993), Christopher Tyler in his paper (2014) ''Leonardo da Vinci’s World Map'', José Luis Espejo in his book (2012) ''Los mensajes ocultos de Leonardo Da Vinci'', or David Bower in his work (2012) ''The unusual projection for one of John Dee's maps of 1580''.. Others also accept explicitly the authorship of both (the map and its projection) as authentic, although leaving open the question of Leonardo's direct hand, giving the authorship of the work to one of his disciples as Nordenskiöld states in his book ''Facsimile-Atlas'' (1889) confirmed by Dutton ''(1995)'' and many others: "..on account of the remarkable projection not by Leonardo himself, but by some ignorant clerk.", or Keunig (1955) being more precise: "..by one of his followers at his direction..". Many scholars based their assumption on Leonardo´s using the Italian word “mappamondo” J.P. Richter translated this as world map instead of world globe. J.P. Richter’s erroneous translation from Arundel, page 191 recto, is: “The map of the world from Benci”. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mappamundi

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Proyecciones-cartograficas
{{Map projections Map projections Works attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

Description

Authorship

See also

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