This book presents groundbreaking new research on a fifteenth-century world map by Henricus
Martellus c. 1491 now at Yale. The importance of the map had long been suspected but it was
essentially unstudiable because the texts on it had faded to illegibility. Multispectral
imaging of the map performed with NEH support in 2014 rendered its texts legible for the
first time leading to renewed study of the map by the author. This volume provides
transcriptions translations and commentary on the Latin texts on the map particularly their
sources as well as the place names in several regions. This leads to a demonstration of a very
close relationship between the Martellus map and Martin Waldseemüller's famous map of 1507. One
of the most exciting discoveries on the map is in the hinterlands of southern Africa. The
information there comes from African sources the map is thus a unique and supremely important
document regarding African cartography in the fifteenth century. This book is essential reading
for digital humanitarians and historians of cartography.
