Tabula Asiae III [Black & Caspian Sea Region]

Excellent example of Munster's Ptolemaic map of the region between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea extending south to include all of Armenia Maior and part of Armenia Minoris. Munster's map shows Noahs Arc in the Caspian Sea, believed to have come to rest in a mountain in Armenia according to the map. Shows Armenia Maior, Iberia, Albania, Colchis, Porte Albanie, the Euphratis River, the Tigris, Assyriae, and many other place names in the cradle of civilization. The map is unchanged from the 1540 edition. Munster's Geographia was a cartographic landmark, including not only Ptolemaic maps, but also a number of landmark modern maps, including the first separate maps of the 4 continents, the first map of England and the earliest obtainable map of Scandinavia. Munster dominated cartographic publication during the mid-16th Century. Munster is generally regarded as one of the three most important map makers of the 16th Century, along with Ortelius and Mercator. Munster was a linguist and mathematician, who initially taught Hebrew in Heidelberg. He issued his first mapping of Germany in 1529, after which he issued a call geographical information about Germany to scholars throughout the country. The response was better than hoped for, and included substantial foreign material, which supplied him with up to date, if not necessarily accurate maps for the issuance of his Geographia in 1540. : Map shows Russia, Middle East, Armenia, Central Asia, Caspian Sea.