Catalan Atlas

Montage of 8 pages (the third to sixth leaves) of the original 1375 Catalan Atlas
Detail of the Catalan Atlas, the first compass rose depicted on a map

The Catalan Atlas (Catalan: Atles català, Eastern Catalan: [ˈatləs kətəˈla]) is a medieval world map, or mappa mundi, probably created in the late 1370s or the early 1380s (often conventionally dated 1375),[1][2] that has been described as the most important map of the Middle Ages in the Catalan language,[3][4] and as "the zenith of medieval map-work".[4]

It was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school, possibly by Cresques Abraham, a Jewish book illuminator who was described by a contemporary as a master of mappae mundi as well as of compasses.[5] It was in the royal library of France by 1380, during the reign of King Charles V, and is still preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The Catalan Atlas originally consisted of six vellum leaves (each circa 64.5 by 50 cm [25.4 by 19.7 in]) folded vertically, painted in various colours including gold and silver.[6] They were later mounted on the front and back of five wooden panels, with the ends enclosed in a leather binding by Simon Vostre c. 1515, restored most recently in 1991. Wear has split each leaf into two.[6]

  1. ^ Ferandez-Armesto, F.F.R. (1995). The European opportunity. Aldershot, Great Britain ; Brookfield, Vt. : Variorum. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-86078-501-9. The Catalan Atlas is conventionally attributed to 1375, because that year is used as the starting-point for the computation of the Golden Number, but 1376 and 1377 are also mentioned in its accompanying texts; it conforms closely to the description of such an atlas in the French royal library catalogue, dated 1380 [...] The Catalan Atlas can be assigned with some confidence to the late 1370s or the early 1380s.
  2. ^ The date "1375" is mentioned in several places in the map: Gunn, Geoffrey C. (15 October 2018). Overcoming Ptolemy: The Revelation of an Asian World Region. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 67. ISBN 978-1-4985-9014-3.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference The Jewish Contribution To Civilization was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference The late medieval age of crisis and renewal, 1300-1500 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference To the Ends of the Earth: 100 Maps that Change the World was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b "Espagnol 30". Bibliothèque nationale de France (in French). Archived from the original on Feb 8, 2023.