1540 Munster’s map of Eastern Europe

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was an esteemed cosmographer and Hebrew scholar who lectured at Tübingen, Heidelberg, and Basel. at 1529, he established himself at the latter place and passed away there in 1552 due to the disease. Münster established himself as the focal point of an extensive community of academics, from whom he acquired geographical descriptions, maps, and instructions.

In 1525, Münster produced his initial documented cartographic representation, namely a map of Germany. After a span of three years, he published a comprehensive exposition on sundials. In 1540, he released Geographia universalis vetus et novo, a revised version of Ptolemy’s Geographia. Münster supplemented the Ptolemaic maps with an additional 21 contemporary maps. Münster’s notable contribution was the inclusion of a map for each continent, a notion that would later influence Ortelius and other early creators of atlases. The Geographia underwent reprints in 1542, 1545, and 1552.

His most renowned work is the Cosmographia universalis, which was initially published in 1544 and subsequently produced in a minimum of 35 editions by 1628. The work was the inaugural German-language portrayal of the world, including a total of six volumes adorned with 471 woodcuts and 26 maps. Several maps were sourced from the Geographia and then altered throughout the course of time. The Cosmographia was extensively utilised during the 16 and seventeenth century. The narrative, woodcuts, and maps exerted a profound impact on geographical ideas for successive generations.

• 1540 large image of map  Basel

• Raremaps – BG

• Raremaps – BG – Use zoom on link for even greater clarity.