Terrestrial and Celestial Globes Volume Ii Part 4

[26] Blaeu, J. Le grand Atlas ou Cosmographie Blaviane. Amsterdam, 1663-1671. 12 Vols. Practically the same work in the Latin, the Dutch, and the Spanish languages. A bibliographical list of Blaeu's princ.i.p.al geographical publications is given in Stevenson, op. cit., pp. 65-67, in Phillips, op. cit., and in Tiele, op. cit.

[27] Stevenson, op. cit., p. 25.

[28] Genard, P. M. N. J. Les globes de Guillaume Blaeu. (In: Bulletin Societe Geographie d'Anvers. Anvers, 1883. Vol. VIII, pp.

159-160.); Baudet, op. cit., pp. 35-52; Stevenson, op. cit., pp. 15, 43-50.

[29] The Mercator globe has a diameter of 41 cm. and the Van Langren a diameter of 32 cm.

[30] Fiorini, op. cit., p. 242.

[31] Baumgartner, J. Zwei alte Globen von Blaeu. Erdkugel von 1599 und Himmel-Globis von 1603. (In: Das Ausland. Stuttgart, 1885. No.

15, pp. 299-300.)

[32] (In: Hakluyt Society Publications, Ser. II, Vol. XVIII, pp.

187, 189.)

[33] Kastner, A. G. Geschichte der Mathematik, Vol. III, p. 86.

[34] Catalogus librorum, tam impressorum, quam ma.n.u.scriptorum, Bibliothecae publicae Universitatis Lugduno-Batavae. Lugduni apud Batavos, 1716. p. 500.

[35] Van der Noort sailed in the year 1598.

[36] See reference in note 32 above.

[37] Compare the austral land on this globe with that on Mercator's globe of 1541, on the Hondius globe of 1600, on the Spano globe of 1593, et al.

[38] Photographs of these globes were reproduced in Stevenson, Willem Janszoon Blaeu. p. 44.

[39] See II, 13.

[40] There was much discussion throughout these years as to the proper location of the prime meridian.

[41] Asher, G. M. Henry Hudson the Navigator. (In: Hakluyt Society Publications. London, 1860. Ser. I, Vol. 27.)

[42] Drake, Sir F. The World Encompa.s.sed, with introduction by Vaux, W. S. W. (In: Hakluyt Society Publications. London, 1854. First Series, 16.)

[43] Stevenson and Fischer. World Map of Jodocus Hondius. The evolution of a knowledge of the Great Lakes region and its cartographical representation should prove to be a topic of absorbing interest.

[44] Brown, A. The Genesis of the United States. Boston and New York, 1891. Vol. I, p. 229.

Historians of this period in American history, with scarcely an exception, have taken it for granted that the expression "from sea to sea" means from the Atlantic to the Pacific, apparently not stopping to inquire as to the geographical notions entertained at the time of the granting of the Charter concerning the regions in question. The interpretation here offered takes into consideration the fact that Jodocus Hondius, perhaps the most distinguished geographer and map maker of his day, was much in favor in England at the time of the formation of the London Company and was much consulted concerning the geography of the New World. What he thought of the Virginia region to the "west and northwest" he has laid down in his large world map. It seems all but proven that the statement "from sea to sea west and northwest" means from the Atlantic to the great but indefinite inland sea "Mare Septentrionale Americae."

To interpret this expression as meaning from the Atlantic to the Pacific shows the historian, as Freeman has stated it, "in bondage to the modern map." Here is a striking ill.u.s.tration of the importance attaching to the study of historical geography, and to its subordinate branch, historical cartography. Blaeu, Plancius, Greuter, and others, if not so clear and emphatic in their presentation of this region, evidently entertained practically the same geographical notion as Hondius.

[45] Fiorini, op. cit., p. 257.

[46] Letter to the author signed and dated, D. Fana, 28/1/1914.

[47] Founded in the year 1602.

[48] Jameson, J. F. Willem Usselinx, Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies. New York, 1887.

[49] Wieder, F. C. De Wereldkaart van Petrus Plancius in het Colegio del Corpus Cristi te Valencia. (In: Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap. Leiden, 1915. pp. 301-318.)

[50] Blundeville. Exercises. pp. 245-278. In this volume pages are numbered on recto only.

[51] Linschoten, J. H. v. Itinerarium ofte schipvaert naer dost ofte Portugaels Indien. Groningen, 1614.

[52] Fiorini, op. cit., p. 278.

[53] Doppelmayr, op. cit., pp. 101, 115, 116.

[54] See Doppelmayr.

[55] See reference to Christian Heyden, I, 156.

[56] Garcia de Cespedes. Regimiento de Navigacion. Madrid, 1606. p.

148.

[57] Royal Geographical Journal, London. London, 1893. p. 384.

[58] Baglione, G. Le vite de' pittori, scultori, architetti ed intagliatori dal pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572 fino ai tempi di Urbano VIII nel 1642. Napoli, 1743. p. 282; Vaugondy, R. d. Essai sur l'histoire de la Geographie. Paris, 1775. p. 189; Magini, A.

Italia di Gio: Al Serenissimo Ferdinando Gonzaga duca di Mantova e di Monferrato, c.u.m privilegio. Bononiae, MDCXX.

[59] Litta, P. Le famiglie celebri d'Italia. Milano, 1819.

[60] Fiorini, op. cit., pp. 299-301.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Armillary Sphere. _From Blagrave, Mathematical Jewel, 1585_]

Chapter XI

Globes of the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century

Certain striking tendencies exhibited in the matter of globe making in this period.--The Gottorp globes.--Weigel's globes.--Carlo Benci.--Amantius Moroncelli.--Castlemaine's immovable globe.--The armillary of Treffler.--Armillary sphere of Gian Battista Alberti.--The numerous globes of P. Vincenzo Coronelli.--Certain anonymous globes of the period.--Joannes Maccarius.--Jos. Antonius Volpes.--Vitale Giordani.--George Christopher Eimmart.--Giuseppe Scarabelli.--Giovanni Battista.--Joseph Moxon.--The Chinese globes of Peking.

Among the globes constructed in the second half of the seventeenth century there were none which surpa.s.sed in scientific value, if indeed any equaled, those sent out from the workshops of the Netherland masters in the first half. The work of P. Vincenzo Coronelli, the Venetian monk, crowns the period. His abilities were of a high order, and ent.i.tle him to a place among the world's great map and globe makers, but the traces of his influence seem not to be so p.r.o.nounced as were those of his immediate northern predecessors.

The period was one which lent encouragement to some extravagance in globe making. The earliest of those constructed in the post-Columbian years, as has been noted, were of small size, but before the close of the sixteenth century we occasionally find one of large dimensions, as, for example, that of the great Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe. Blaeu's globes of the year 1622 were thought to be of extraordinary size, but the half century here under consideration furnishes us with examples of globes having gigantic proportions, globes such, for example, as would have pleased the Greek geographer, Strabo,[61] who thought that one to be of value should have a diameter of at least ten feet. The Gottorp globe, the globes of Weigel, the Coronelli globes constructed for Louis XIV, were not such as would lend themselves to easy duplication, certainly not as to size, ranging as they did from about nine to fifteen feet. Of real value they possessed but little. They were interesting mechanical curiosities, representing a tendency in globe construction which might be referred to as the ultrapractical. In the following century we find the opposite extreme exemplified in what were known as pocket globes.

The so-called Gottorp globe, constructed in the years 1654-1664, at the instance of Duke Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, we may refer to as the first one of importance of the period, as it was one of the largest, being, however, rather an object[62] of interest by reason of its peculiar construction, than one of great scientific importance for the study of astronomy and geography. This globe, about eleven feet in diameter, was prepared by Andreas Busch of Limberg under the direction of Adam Oelschlager (Olearius)[63] (1599-1671), Duke Frederick's librarian and court mathematician. The world map on the outer surface of the sphere included a record of the recent discoveries according to the most reliable sources of information. It was furnished with a bra.s.s meridian circle, and within this it was so adjusted as to make one revolution every twenty-four hours. The pole elevation could not be altered, it being permanently set for the lat.i.tude of Gottorp, that is, for lat.i.tude 54 30'. Its horizon circle was broad, and served as a platform upon which an observer might walk, he being thus enabled to examine the terrestrial map to the best advantage. A door was provided which could be opened and closed, permitting not less than twelve persons to enter the sphere at one time. On its inner surface was represented the entire expanse of the sky with the several constellations properly located, having their figures carefully outlined; the several stars being placed according to calculation for the year 1700, and each star was gilded that it might the more easily be seen. From the inner axis was suspended a circular gallery or platform from which the machine could be set in motion, and from which, as representing the horizon, one might observe the rising and the setting of the stars. The whole interior was lighted by two small lamps. At the center of the sphere, the inner surface of which, as stated above, represented the starry heavens, was placed a small ball, about 15 cm. in diameter, representing the earth. The great globe, driven by water power, was therefore made to appear to revolve around this central terrestrial globe. A representation of the sun, made of gla.s.s, had its own proper motion along the circle of the ecliptic, and a representation of the moon likewise was made to move in its own proper course. This globe, in the year 1713, was presented by the grandson of Duke Frederick to Czar Peter the Great of Russia.

A note in the Royal Geographical Journal refers to this as a seventeenth-century globe, adding in substance that the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences has lately installed at Tsarskoe Selo this large globe, weighing some three and one half tons, constructed in the seventeenth century for Duke Frederick of Holstein, under the superintendence of Olearius, the astronomer and traveler. On its completion it was placed in the castle of Gottorp, from which fact it became known as the Gottorp globe. It was presented to the Academy in the year 1725 and up to the present has remained in the Zoological Museum.[64]