Beschrijving

Historical map from John Speed, 1651.

The map is marked with the names of countries, major cities and ports of the time, along with the charted seas and islands. The exceptions are the extreme north of America, and Australia, which is alluded to as 'Psittacorum Regio or the Country of Parrots, soo called from ye extreaordinary and almost incredible bignes of those birds there'. Surrounding the map are many interesting insets: the celestial hemispheres are shown, along with their constellations; two diagrams explain pictorially how solar and lunar eclipses occur; 'A Figure of the Sphere' and 'The Heavens and Elements' occupy the top corners; and portraits of four notable explorers including Magellan and Drake are also shown.

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