We Have Already Alluded To Regiomontanus, As A Celebrated Mathematician,
And As Having Published The Almagest Of Ptolemy.
He seems, likewise, to
have written notes on Ptolemy's Geography.
In 1525, a later translation of
Ptolemy was published, which contained these annotations. To Ptolemy's
maps, tables, &c., are added a new set of maps on wooden plates, according
to the new discoveries: from these we find, that in consequence of the
voyages of the Portuguese, the charts of the coasts of Arabia, Africa,
Persia, and India, are laid down with tolerable accuracy. Nothing is
noticed regarding China, except that it may be reached by sea from India.
America is called Terra Nova inventa per Christ. Columbus: this seems to be
all the editor knew of it. That part of the work which relates to the north
of Europe, is most grossly erroneous: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the
Baltic, seem to have been little known. A great bay is laid down between
Greenland and Lapland, which bay is bounded on the north by a ridge of
mountains, thus retaining the error of Ptolemy with respect to this part of
Europe. There are two maps of England and Scotland: in one they are
represented as one island; in the other as different islands. These maps
and charts must have been the work of the editor or translator, as
Regiomontanus, whose annotations are subjoined, died before the discovery
of America.
We have been thus particular in describing the principal maps of this work,
as they prove how imperfect geography was, prior to the time of Mercator,
and with how much justice it may be said that he is the father of modern
geography.
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