#ABRAHAM ORTELIUS HOW TO#

We’re still dazzled by bioluminescent light displays in the deep, or the surreal, shimmering movements of schools of millions of tiny fish. This year, both the giant squid and the 15-foot megamouth shark were filmed for the first time, and there is still plenty to learn about each. Just when you think that we’ve lost that sense of awe at the sea, captured in these old maps and texts, we are reminded that much remains to be discovered in the ocean. Reprinted with permission by British Library and the University of Chicago Press.) (Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius, first published in 1570. Here, King Manuel of Portugal rides a sea creature off the Southern tip of Africa, symbolizing Portugal’s control of the seas, on Martin Waldseemüller’s 1516 Carta Marina. Long before they disappeared from maps, sea monsters were repurposed for politics. Some of the mystery is gone as the sea becomes another resource rather than a churning darkness to be feared. “Whales, the largest creatures in the ocean, are no longer monsters but rather natural marine storehouses of commodities to be harvested,” wrote Van Duzer.

#ABRAHAM ORTELIUS HOW TO#

On one map from the early 17th century, vignettes illustrated how to kill and process a whale. Ships indicated areas of safe passage, while drawings of fish and whales showed good fishing areas. There were still illustrations on maps, but they were far more pragmatic. “And thus images of the dangers of the sea, while they certainly did not immediately disappear from maps in the 17th century, became less frequent over time, and images of ships became more common.” “As technology advanced, as our understanding of the oceans and navigation advanced, more emphasis was placed on human’s ability to master the watery element: to sail on it and conduct trade on it,” Van Duzer told Lapham’s. European understanding of science was growing, and the printing press made the spread of realistic images easier. However, at the end of the 17th century, sea monsters start to disappear from maps. Other monsters can be seen on the surrounding land. “So most of the sea monsters reflect an effort on the part of the cartographer to be accurate in the depiction of what lived in the sea.”Ī siren admires herself in a mirror-a sign of her vanity-amongst ships in the Southern Ocean on Pierre Descelier’s map from 1550. “To our eyes, almost all of the sea monsters on all of these maps seem quite whimsical, but in fact, a lot of them were taken from what the cartographers viewed as scientific, authoritative books,” said author Chet Van Duzer in a podcast with Lapham’s Quarterly. That doesn’t mean the monsters were purely ornamental inventions though. Most of the decorated maps weren’t used for navigation, but rather were displayed by wealthy people. More than mere marginalia and playful illustration, cartographers drew sea monsters to enchant viewers while educating them about what could be found in the sea. Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, by Chet Van Duzer, and Sea Monsters: A Voyage around the World’s Most Beguiling Map, by Joseph Nigg, both focus exclusively on illustrations, several of which are included here, of such monsters on old maps.Īn ichthyocentaur (parts human, horse and fish) plays a viol on a map of Scandinavia from the 1573 edition of Ortelius’s Theatrum orbis terrarum. The sea surrounding Scandinavia showed sailing ships and this traditionally peaceful ichthyocentaur, perhaps suggesting safe passage. The sea monsters that populated European medieval and renaissance imaginations-fierce-toothed animals battling in the waves, long serpents wrapped around ships, torturously beautiful sirens and a wide assortment of chimeric beings-are the subject of two new books. So, what of the creatures that were thought to live there? Even the substance itself, seawater, is often cold and dark, and deadly to drink in quantity. And, why not? Unlike land, the ocean is constantly shifting and moving, with currents that could carry a ship off course and storms that threaten wrecks. The sea has been the stage for monstrosities and strange tales since antiquity. Fictitious animals on 16th and early 17th century maps hint at how people’s perception of the ocean has changed over time

Abraham ortelius