Leonardo's World Map
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Leonardo's world map is the name assigned to a unique
world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of t ...
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 found loosely inserted among a Codex of
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
preserved in
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...
. It features an early use of the toponym
America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and incorporates information from the travels of
Amerigo Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci ( , ; 9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence for whom "Naming of the Americas, America" is named. Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the A ...
, published in 1503 and 1505. Additionally, the map depicts the
Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
as an ocean and
Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
as a continent of about the correct size. The conjecture that the map was drawn by Leonardo himself is not universally accepted by scholars.
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 ...
, who first published the map in 1865 and defended its authenticity, dated it around 1514 because
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
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'' 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 the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
, 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 the 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 or projections 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, graphics, and carto ...
used; among them, Henry Harrisse (1892), or
Eugène Müntz Eugène Müntz (11 June 1845 – 30 October 1902) was a French art historian who specialized in the Italian Renaissance art. LIfe and career Eugène Müntz was born on 11 June 1845 in Soultz-sous-Forêts, Bas-Rhin. His brother was Achille Münt ...
(1899 - citing Harrisse authority from 1892). Since the discovery of the Ostrich Egg Globe, 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”. Missinne's findings, however, are disputed. Several scholars explicitly accept the authorship of both map and
projection Projection or projections 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, graphics, and carto ...
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,'' 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.."


Mathematical reconstruction

The subject of mathematical analysis of Leonardo's octant globe has been considered very briefly in scientific publications. There are also few images of reconstruction of this globe.


See also

*
List of works by Leonardo da Vinci The Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) was the founding figure of the High Renaissance, and exhibited enormous influence on subsequent artists. Only around eight major works—'' The Adoration of the Magi'', '' Saint Jerome in the ...
* Bernard J. S. Cahill *
Codex Atlanticus The Codex Atlanticus (Atlantic Codex) is a 12-volume, bound set of drawings and writings (in Italian) by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest single set. Its name indicates the large paper used to preserve original Leonardo notebook pages, which was u ...
* Cahill–Keyes projection *
Waterman butterfly projection The Waterman "Butterfly" World Map is a map projection created by Steve Waterman. Waterman first published a map in this arrangement in 1996. The arrangement is an unfolding of a polyhedral globe with the shape of a truncated octahedron, ev ...
* Waterman polyhedron


References


External links


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