Java and sumatra on world map2/15/2024 Map production in Portugal must have been abundant. ![]() It was for this reason that, for instance, in the last quarter of the century Petrus Plancius gave up his project of drawing a planisphere based on that of Mercator and finally preferred to reproduce Portuguese prototypes. Nevertheless, as regards topographical information - especially on the East, which throughout that century was scarcely frequented by other Europeans - Portuguese maps remained richer and more accurate than any others. Besides there was a fairly large number of Portuguese map-makers working abroad.įrom a strictly technical point of view, Portuguese cartography had already been surpassed by the Dutch in the second half of the sixteenth century, owing chiefly to Mercator's improvements. This is undoubtedly the reason that most of the 16th century Portuguese maps are found outside of Portugal: although the exportation of maps, as well as the emigration of pilots, had been forbidden by the King under pain of death, the prohibition was very often disregarded and maps sold to foreign spies and even to curious people who brought them to Italy, France, England, Germany and other parts of Europe. Owing to a geographical knowledge somewhat broader than that of other Europeans, Portuguese cartographers rapidly surpassed their forerunners from Majorca and Italy, who had been the best map-makers of the Middle Ages W. As an aftermath of the great voyages of discovery and as a response to the increasing needs of seafaring and trade, nautical cartography developed very quickly in Portugal from the last quarter of the 15th century onwards.
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