Thursday 3 March 2011

Fine and Mercator Heart Planet Earth Too!

I found these amazing ancient maps on the internet today which I feel sums up my blog title perfectly. What do you think?
'Mappemonde Cordiforme d'Oronce Fine'
As a bit of background 'Mappemonde Cordiforme d'Oronce Fine' was produced in about 1534 however, this map is not in Fine’s astronomy manuscript. Fine was noted for his cordiform or heart-shaped maps of the world (source).
Oronce Fine (1491–1555) was one of the rare French geographers in the Renaissance to prepare maps of the world. As a geographer myself, I find this interpretation of Earth incredible and therefore thought I would share these maps with you all.

Fine's heart-shaped map projection may be his most famous illustration, and was frequently employed by other notable cartographers.

Another impressive historical map is below 'Mercator's Double Cordiform' was produced in 1538 by Gerard Mercator, a Flemish geographer and map publisher (source). Mercator's original map, which is now very rare, was similar to Oronce Fine's world maps published around this time. Mercator also published numerous maps and several globes and atlases. It was his book of world maps, first published in 1595 one year after his death, that introduced the term "atlas" to the world.

'Mercator's Double Cordiform'
Hopefully you find these maps as fascinating as I do…

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