Template:POTD/2014-09-20

Picture of the day

The Cantino planisphere is the earliest surviving map showing Portuguese geographic discoveries in the east and west. Named after Alberto Cantino, who smuggled it from Portugal to Italy in 1502, the map includes a fragmentary record of the Brazilian coast as well as detailed depictions of African coasts. The map is also the earliest extant nautical chart where places (in Africa and parts of Brazil and India) are depicted according to their astronomically observed latitudes. It is now held at the Biblioteca Estense in Modena, Italy.Map: anonymous Portuguese cartographer