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Europe: Details
[Bohemia]
The First European Religious Map?
Munster, Bohemia Nova Descriptio... Basel, 1552. 11 x 15. Black & White. Centerfold repairs, else VG. [SOLD]
This may be the earliest map to depict religious affiliation. It certainly is the earliest European map we have seen which includes thematic material (a Chinese military map from the 2nd century B.C. is known). The crossed keys of St. Peter identify Catholic areas, while a chalice locates followers of reformer Jan Hus (burned at the stake for heresy by the Council of Constance in 1415). Royal cities, castles, seats of nobles are noted. Professor Arthur Robinson has stated that the first purely thematic maps (maps devoted to a particular subject or theme rather than to geographical features) first appeared in the late 1600's, though he allows that a few early general maps did include thematic material. References: "Compass Points" [The First Thematic Map] in The Map Collector, Issue #10 (March, 1980), page 43; Robinson, Early Thematic Mapping in the History of Cartography, page 16 and note 22; Wallis & Robinson Cartographic Innovations 2.181.
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