Johannes Ruysch
Johannes Ruysch was a seaman who produced a famous map of the world; the second oldest known printed representation of the New World. This Ruysch map was published and widely distributed in 1507.
Age of Discovery
There had been many voyages of discovery in the immediately preceding years:
- Dias’ rounding of the horn of Africa (1487)
- the discovery of Newfoundland by John Cabot (1497)[1]
- Vasco da Gama’s travel to India (1499)
- the explorations of the Caribbean and South America by Columbus (1492-93, 1493-94, 1498, 1502-04)
- visits to the Caribbean and South America by Vespucci (1499, 1501-02)
Although there had been maps created after these voyages, such as Juan de la Cosa’s map of the world in 1500 (based on Columbus' second voyage) and the Cantino world map (circa 1502). However, the information on these maps was closely held and guarded as state secrets. Often a limited number of copies were made.
Publicizing the Shape of the World
This situation changed drastically from 1506 to 1507 when three separate efforts to produce world maps were published. The Contarini-Rosselli map of 1506 (now in the British Library) and Martin Waldseemüller's map of the world and globe of 1507 were very influential, but not very widely published. There is only one original copy of each in existence, and both of these copies were discovered in the 20th century. By contrast, Johannes Ruysch's 1507 map of the world was much more widely published and many copies were produced and still exist. It therefore had a very large influence.
The Ruysch Map of 1507
Ruysch's 1507 map of the world was included in the 1507 and 1508 southern editions of Ptolemy's Geographia, an atlas published in Rome. The editor of the 1507 edition of the Geographia was Evangelista Tosinus and the printer was Bernardinus Venetus de Vitalibus.
The Ruysch map uses Ptolemy's first projection, a coniform projection, as does the Contarini-Rosselli map. Both document Columbus' discoveries as well as the discoveries of John Cabot, as well as including information from Portuguese sources and Marco Polo's account of his travels.
Newfoundland and Cuba are shown connected to Asia in the Ruysch map, as Columbus and Cabot believed. “Sipganus” (Marco Polo’s Japan) is identical with “Spagnola” (Hispaniola) on the Ruysch map. The presence of codfish is noted on the Ruysch map in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Ruysch’s map contains the discoveries the Portuguese had made along the African coast. Ruysch's map shows Africa as a peninsula surrounded by water. The horn of Africa on Ruysch's map is at approximately the correct latitude. Ruysch's map shows India as a triangular peninsula with Ceylon in the correct proportion and position. Ruysch's map has details about Asia based on data gathered by travelers like Marco Polo, as well as Greco-Roman authorities. Greenland is shown connected to Newfoundland and Asia on Ruysch's map, and not Europe as earlier maps had showed. There are notes on his map that clearly were from Portuguese sources. Around the north pole, Ruysch drew islands, based on reports of the travels of the English friar Nicholas of Lynne.
Map Commentary
There was a map commentary also included in the 1508 edition, entitled Orbis nouo descriptio and written by an Italian Celestinian monk named Marcus Beneventanus. Beneventanus, wrote in the commentary on the Ruysch map for the 1508 Ptolemy edition:
- Johannes Ruysch of Germany, in my judgment a most exact geographer, and a most painstaking one in delineating the globe, to whose aid in this little work I am indebted, has told me that he sailed from the South of England, and penetrated as far as the fifty-third degree of north latitude, and on that parallel he sailed west toward the shores of the East, bearing a little northward and observed many islands.
Personal Details
It is thought that Ruysch accompanied John Cabot on his expedition to North America in 1497 and 1498, or possibly a Portuguese ship leaving from Bristol. Very little is known about him except that he was from Utrecht or possibly Antwerp, visited Cologne, and presumably lived in Germany.[2]
References
- ^ Of course, this was a rediscovery, since the Norse remains found at the L'Anse aux Meadows make it clear that the Norse had been to Newfoundland centuries before and settled there
- ^ Ruysch World Map: Census and Commentary, Donald L. McGuirk, Jr., Imago Mundi, Vol. 41, 1989 (1989), pp. 133-141
Outside Links
- Ruysch 1506 map showing Africa and India
- Ruysch 1506 map of the world showing North America and South America
- The Mapping of America, Seymour I. Schwartz, Ralph E. Ehrenberg, Abrams, New York, 1980.
- The New World in Maps: The First Hundred Years, John T. Day (St. Olaf College), The Newberry Library, 1988.