MallorGEO 2010 Spinning Geocoin - Silver

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Tracking Number: MGY574

Teil der Coinsammlung der Kanustation Mirow / poseptun

Text auf der Coin: First Compass Rose  -  Majorcan Catographic School 1375

Atlas Catalan  -  3. MallorGeo 2010 - Illes Baleares

"Majorcan cartographic school" is the term coined by historians to refer to the collection of predominantly Jewish cartographers, cosmographers and navigational instrument-makers and some Christian associates that flourished in Majorca in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries until the expulsion of the Jews. The label is usually inclusive of those who worked in Catalonia. The Majorcan school is frequently contrasted with the contemporary Italian cartography school.

Regardless of the exact origin, historians agree that the Majorcans developed their own distinctive style or "school" of portolan cartography, which can be distinguished from the "Italian school". Both Italian and Majorcan portolan charts focus on the same geographic area, what is sometimes called the "Normal Portolan": the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Atlantic Ocean coast up to the environs of Flanders - in short, the area frequently travelled by contemporary Mediterranean merchants and sailors. As time and knowledge progressed, some cartographers would stretch the geographic boundaries of the normal portolan to include a larger swathe of Atlantic ocean, including many Atlantic islands (real and mythical), a longer stretch of the west African coast to the south, the Baltic Sea in the north and the Caspian Sea in the east. Nonetheless, the central focus on the Mediterranean remained throughout and the scale rarely changed.

The distinction between the Majorcan and Italian school is one of style rather than range. Italian portolan charts were sparse and restrained, strictly focused on coastal detail, with the inland areas left largely or wholly empty, and the charts largely bereft of illustrations.

The Majorcan style, its beginnings already decipherable in the 1339 chart of Angelino Dulcert, and finding its epitome in the Catalan Atlas of 1375 (attributed to Majorcan cartographer Abraham Cresques), contained a lot more inland detail and was replete with rich colorful illustrations, depicting cities, mountain ranges, rivers and some miniature people. Among the quintessential features replicated in almost all Majorcan charts:

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* Compass Rose