World Map 16th Century

Description: Waldseemüller map from 1507. The carthographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann from southern Germany collected map data over several years, including about the most recent discoveries, to realize this world map. They incorporated the first time in history the name America on a map.

(Highest res.: jpg, 29700 x 16500 pixel, 72 dpi, file size: 97,9 MB)

World Map 17th Century

Description: Ancient world map made by the Dutch cartographer Frederik de Wit in 1662, during the Golden Age of Dutch history (1584-1702) when Dutch trade, science and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.



















(Highest res.: jpg, 2172 x 1820 pixel, 96 dpi, file size: 888 KB)

World Map 6th Century

Description: World Map by Cosmas Indicopleustes arround the year 550. Cosmas was a Greek monk from Alexandria and travelled several times to India as a merchant. In his worldview the world was flat.

(Highest res.: jpg, 1539 x 1208 pixel, 72 dpi, file size: 654 KB)

World Map 17th Century

Description: Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis made in 1606 by the Dutch cartographer Willem Janszoon Blaeu, who worked together with his son Joan Blaeu. First published in 1635 in their atlas Theatrum orbis terrarum.

(Highest res.: jpg, 1533 x 1152 pixel, 70 dpi, file size: 2,35 MB)

World Map 4th Century

Description: The Tabula Peutingeriana
This Roman map of the acient world shows the road network in the Roman Empire in the 4th century and covers Europe, parts of Asia (India) and North-Africa.

(Highest res.: jpg, 21657 x 930 pixel, 75 dpi, file size: 7,62 MB)

Detail with Rome

(Highest res.: jpg, 746 x 970 pixel, 75 dpi, file size: 257 KB)

World Map 16th Century

Description: The Cantino planisphere is the earliest surviving map showing the new Portuguese discoveries in the world, including a fragmentary record of the Brazilian coast. The antique map is named after the Italian Alberto Cantino, who smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502.

(Highest res.: png, 3528 x 1656 pixel, 72 dpi, file size: 11,8 MB)

World Map 15th Century

Description: The Bianco World Map published by the Italian sailor and cartographer Andrea Bianco in 1436.

(Highest res.: jpg, 700 x 536 pixel, 300 dpi, file size: 153 KB)

World Map 16th Century

Description: World Map created by the Flemish cartographer Rumold Mercator in 1587, son of the famous cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who developed the modern projection of the world.

(Highest res.: jpg, 1496 x 1077 pixel, 72 dpi, file size: 558 KB)

World Map 11th Century

Description: World map of Mahmud al-Kashgari. Turcocentric world map published in al-Kashgari's "Compendium of the languages of the Turks" in the 11th century. The map is oriented with east on the top and the world is shown as encircled by the ocean.

(Highest res.: jpg, 741 x 670 pixel, 96 dpi, file size: 128 KB).

World Map 18th Century

Description: World map of the Turkish encyclopedist Ibrahim Hakki Erzurumi published in 1756.















(Highest res.: png, 357 x 573 pixel, 199 dpi, file size: 599 KB)

World Map 2nd Century

Description: Ptolemy world map ca. 150 AD. Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy), was a mathmatician, geographer, astronomer and astrologer who lived in the Hellenistic culture of Roman Egypt. One of his main works is his Geographia, a compilation of the known geography in the Roman Empire. This map is a reconstruction made in the 15th century.

(Highest res.: jpg, 1344 x 915 pixel, 200 dpi, file size: 810 KB)