Name/Title
Rumold Mercartor / Henricus Hondius. Orbis Terrae Compendiosa Descriptio Quam ex Magna Universali Mercatoris . . . MDLXXXVIIEntry/Object ID
L2024.4.31Description
The Only Obtainable Mercator World Map
An attractive example of Rumold Mercator’s map of the world, first printed in Geneva (or Duisburg) in 1587. The map is based on Gerard Mercator’s celebrated 1569 world map and the copperplate was made while Gerard was still alive (1512- 1594). This is the only collectible world map with direct input from Gerard Mercator, the greatest geographer of his era. Both his 1538 and 1569 world maps are unobtainable rarities.
The present work is a reduced version of the 1569 wall map of the world, on which the revolutionary Mercator Projection was introduced. Oddly, this folio version recast the map into a double-hemisphere format; Rumold chose not to employ his father’s namesake projection.
To the left is the western hemisphere. The prominent bulge in South America, a characteristic introduced by Gerard Mercator and evident on his 1569 world map, has been retained here. Tierra del Fuego forms part of a gigantic southern continent that continues in the eastern hemisphere. At the north pole, two of the four islands that Gerard Mercator thought surrounded the pole are evident. There is also a suggestion of a Northwest Passage via the Straits of Anian.
"Anian" is thought to derive from Ania, a Chinese province on a large gulf mentioned in Marco Polo’s travels (ch. 5, book 3). The gulf Polo described was actually the Gulf of Tonkin, but the province’s description was transposed from Vietnam to the northwest coast of North America. The first map to do so was Giacomo Gastaldi’s world map of 1562, followed by Zaltieri and Mercator. The Strait then became shorthand for a passage to China, i.e. a Northwest Passage. It appeared on maps until the mid-eighteenth century.
Quivira, south of Anian, refers to the Seven Cities of Gold sought by the Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in 1541. In 1539, Coronado wandered over what today is Arizona and New Mexico, eventually heading to what is now Kansas to find the supposedly rich city of Quivira. Although he never found the cities or the gold, the name stuck on maps of southwest North America, wandering from east to west.
In the eastern hemisphere, Japan appears as a large round island. The islands of Southeast Asia are arrayed with relative accuracy for the time. To the south, the names of Beach, Maletur, and Lucach reveal again Mercator’s use of toponyms from Marco Polo. Farther east on the southern continent is Psitacorum regio, which appeared on Gerard Mercator’s 1541 globe and his 1569 world map. It was supposed to have been sighted by Portuguese sailors.
The hemispheres are ringed with impressive strapwork, adding a pleasing decorative element to the map. At the top center is an armillary sphere. It is paired with an elaborate compass rose in the bottom center.Collection
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps CollectionLexicon
Search Terms
Antarctic; CartographyMap Details
Maker or Creator
Mercator, RumoldPlace Published
City
Amsterdam, NetherlandsCountry
NetherlandsRegion
Western EuropeContinent
EuropeDate Published
1613
