Peutinger Table, Western Part.—This is the only Roman map extant; it gives lines of roads from the eastern shores of Britain to the Adriatic Sea. It is really a kind of bird's-eye view taken from the African coast. The Mediterranean runs as a thin strip through the lower part of the map. The lower section joins on to the upper.
The World according to Ibn Haukal (from Lelewel, Géographie du mon age).—This map, like most of the Arabian maps, has the south at the top. It is practically only a diagram, and is thus similar to the Hereford Map in general form.—Misr=Egypt, Fars=Persia, Andalus=Spain.
Coast-line of the Mediterranean (from the Portulano of Dulcert, 1339, given in Nordenskiold's Facsimile Atlas).—To illustrate the accuracy with which mariners' charts gave the coast-lines as contrasted with the merely symbolical representation of other mediæval maps.
Fra Mauro Map, 1457 (from Lelewel, loc. Cit.).—Here, as usual, the south is placed at the top of the map. Besides the ordinary mediæval conceptions, Fra Mauro included the Portuguese discoveries along the coast of Africa up to his time, 1457.
Portuguese Discoveries in Africa (from E. J. Payne, European Colonies, 1877).—Giving the successive points reached by the Portuguese navigators during the fifteenth century.
Portuguese Indies (from Payne, loc. Cit.).—All the ports mentioned in ordinary type were held by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century.
The Toscanelli Map (from Kretschmer, Entdeckung Amerikas, 1892).—This is a reconstruction of the map which Columbus got from the Italian astronomer and cartographer Toscanelli and used to guide him in his voyage across the Atlantic. Its general resemblance to the Behaim Globe will be remarked.
The Behaim Globe.—This gives the information about the world possessed in 1492, just as Columbus was starting, and is mainly based upon the map of Toscanelli, which served as his guide. It will be observed that there is no other continent between Spain and Zipangu or Japan, while the fabled islands of St. Brandan and Antilia are represented bridging the expanse between the Azores and Japan.
Amerigo Vespucci (from Fiske's School History of the United States, by kind permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)
Ferdinand Magellan (from Fiske's School History of the United States, by kind permission of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)