- Benedetto Bordone
Benedetto Bordone (1460 – 1531) was an Italian
manuscript editor,miniaturist andcartographer .Bordone was born in
Padua , then part of theRepublic of Venice .His most famous work is the "Isolario" (The Book of Islands, "where we discuss about all islands of the world, with their ancient and modern names, histories, tales and way of living...") in which he describes all the islands of the known world with their
lore , myths,culture s,climate s, situations, andhistory . Printed inVenice in 1528, the work is an example of a cartographic genre popular inItaly during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is intended as an illustrated guide forsailors and attempts to include all the new transatlantic discoveries."Isolario" contains an oval depiction of the world, a type of map invented by Bordone and later formalized into the equal-area elliptical
Mollweide projection three centuries later. Bordone's map shows a very distorted "Mondo Novo" (New World ), displaying only the northern regions ofSouth America .North America , depicted as a large island, is labeled "Terra del Laboratore" (Land of the worker), almost certainly a reference to the slave trading in the area in those days (and hence the nameLabrador ).The book also contains a record of
Pizarro 's conquest ofPeru , the earliest known printed account of this event. Of particular interest in this work are numerouswoodcut maps, twelve of which relate to America. One map displays a plan of "Temistitan" (Tenochtitlan , modernMexico City ) before its destruction byCortez . Also of interest is a map of "Ciampagu" the earliest knownEurope an-printed map ofJapan as an island.Bordone is reputed to have been the father of
Julius Caesar Scaliger , a classical scholar, and grandfather ofJoseph Justus Scaliger , founder of the science of historical chronology.Original maps from Bordone's "Isolario" are prized for their historical value.
External links
*http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/Ren/Ren1/343.html
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