par Robles Macias, Luis 
Référence 15th ICA Conference(6-7 mai 2021: online), Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage, page (146-163)
Publication Publié, 2021-05-07
Référence 15th ICA Conference(6-7 mai 2021: online), Digital Approaches to Cartographic Heritage, page (146-163)
Publication Publié, 2021-05-07
Publication dans des actes
| Résumé : | Two unusual Ottoman maps of the Mediterranean, one kept at the Sylvia Ioannou Foundation and the other sold at Christie’s to an unidentified buyer, have become known to historians of cartography only since 2009. Both are large anonymous manuscript maps, probably from the 17th century, drawn on paper but otherwise consistent with the style of the portolan chart tradition. Their most outstanding feature is that they include complete grids of latitude and longitude, something extremely rare on contemporary portolan charts.This paper studies those grids in detail, comparing each of them with the geographical information contained in the underlying charts. Hypotheses are formulated about how each chart was drawn, as well as the sources that may have been used to locate their parallels and meridians.The findings of the study suggest that the two analyzed artefacts are the results of experiments with different approaches to reconcile the Mediterranean tradition of nautical charting with the astronomical-mathematical cartography of Ptolemaic inspiration that at the time was increasingly dominant in Europe, a problem that hitherto had had no satisfactory theoretical or empirical solution. These experiments also represent one noteworthy achievement in the long process of Ottoman interpretation, assimilation and adaptation of Western cartography. |
