Although this card was sent to me from Russia, it's a reprint of an old Heinrich Bünting map, which was first published in 1581. He was a German pastor and as I mentioned in a previous post showing his map of Europe, he drew maps to make a point with symbolism rather than as accurate representations of land masses.
In this case, he shows Jerusalem at the centre of the world, with the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa surrounding it. Newly discovered America is off to one side and labelled "Die Neue Welt", the New World, while England and Denmark appear at the top. England is positioned immediately opposite the part of Europe marked "Frankreich", France.
Maps on Monday.
Very interesting! I hadn't seen the other map of Europe.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely design! And in 1581 no less.
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