A Story To Tell: Seeing Through the Minds of Two Admirals
- Eda Ozyesilpinar -
Imago Mundi
Pierrre d’Ailly’s Imago Mundi, which consisted of mappeamundi was one of the main sources Columbus also used to form his cosmographical theory “about the great extension of Asia to the east and the 56 2/3 mile measure of a terrestrial degree” (Nunn, 1935, p. 647). According to Valerie I. J. Flint (1992) “this [Imago Mundi of Pierre d’Ailly] was the source of at least one of his world maps, of some of his ideas about the islands of the Indies” (p. 4).
Figure 9. Notes of Columbus in Imago Mundi
Figure 8. A world map in Imago Mundi
Columbus’s marginal notes on this source are strong evidence proving that Columbus used Pierre d’Ailly’s Imago Mundi; in addition, these notes “reveal the steps in the information of his plans” (Nunn, 1935, p. 646). The information presented in this source supports what Columbus may have learned from Ptolemy’s studies about the size and shape of the world. This parallelism between Ptolemy and Pierre d’Ailly about the great extension of Asia strengthened Columbus’s theory that there was a shorter way to Asia by sailing to the west.