From the city of Lisbon to the west, the chart shows twenty-six sections, of two hundred and fifty miles each—altogether nearly one-third of the earth’s circumference before reaching the very large and magnificent city of Kinsai. This city is approximately one hundred miles in circumference and possesses ten marble bridges and its name means “the Heavenly City” in our language. Amazing things have been related about its vast buildings, its artistic treasures, and its revenues. It lies in the Province of Manji, near the Province of Cathay, where the King chiefly resides. And from the island of Antillia which you call “the Island of the Seven Cities,” to the very famous island Cipangu are ten sections, that is, two thousand five hundred miles. That island [Cipangu] is very rich in gold, pearls and precious stones and its temples and palaces are covered in gold. But since the route to this place is not yet known, all these things remain hidden and secret; and yet one may go there in great safety.
I could still tell of many other things, but as I have already told you of them in person, and as you are a man of good judgement I will dilate no further on this subject. I try to answer your questions as well as the lack of time and my work [would] have permitted me, but I am always prepared to serve His Highness and answer his questions at greater length should he so wish.
Written in Florence on the twenty-fifth of June 1474.1
Pope Eugenius IV was born Gabriele Condulmer in 1383 in Venice.2 He was pope from March 3, 1431, until his death on February 23, 1447. His mother’s side was a rich merchant family, the Corrers, whose magnificent palaces can be seen alongside the Grand Canal in Venice to this day.3 He was crowned pope at Saint Peter’s in Rome on March 11, 1431. After June 1434, he spent his pontificate in Florence until he moved to Ferrara in 1438.
A short while after his letter to Canon Martins, Toscanelli wrote to Christopher Columbus:
Paul, the Physician to Christopher Columbus, greeting. I received your letters with the things you sent me, and with them received great satisfaction. I perceive your magnificent and grand desire to navigate from parts of the East to the West [i.e., to sail westward to China] in the way that was set forth in the letter that I sent you [a copy of the letter to Canon Martinez] and which will be demonstrated better on a round sphere. It pleases me much that I should be well understood: for the voyage is not only possible it is true, and certain to be honourable and to yield incalculable profit, and a very great fame among all Christians. But you cannot know this perfectly save through experience and practice as I have had in the form of the most copious and good and true information from distinguished men of great learning who have come here in the Court of Rome [i.e., Florence at that time] from the said parts [China] and from others being merchants, who have had business for a long time in those parts, men of high authority. Thus when that voyage shall be made it will be to powerful kingdoms and cities and most noble provinces, very rich in all manner of things in great abundance and very necessary to us, such as all sorts of spices in great quantity and jewels in greatest abundance.4
In these two letters Toscanelli tells Canon Martins and Christopher Columbus that the earth is a sphere and that China can be reached by sailing west from Spain. Toscanelli writes that Eugenius IV received an ambassador from China and that he, Toscanelli, obtained this information from him and from men of great learning who came to Florence in the time of Eugenius IV (1434 or later).
Yet in 1474, when Toscanelli wrote these letters, Europeans had not reached southern Africa, and it was another eighteen years before Columbus set sail for the Americas. So how did Toscanelli know China could be reached, not only via the east around Africa, but via the west?
Toscanelli’s claims to Columbus about the map or globe seem extraordinary.5 He asserts that the chart shows that the distance, sailing westward, from Lisbon to Kinsai in China is only one-third of the earth’s circumference and that from Antilia (Island of the Seven Cities) to the “very famous island Cipangu” is a distance of 2,500 miles. He implies in his letter to Columbus that the information is on a round sphere and that the lands of spices can be reached by sailing westward.
The famous island Cipangu is Japan. So Toscanelli’s claim that it is only 2,500 miles from Japan to Antilia, in the Caribbean, seems absurd. So does his claim that the map shows the distance from Lisbon westward to China is one-third of the earth’s circumference; in fact, it is nearer two-thirds. If Toscanelli’s account is true, it must have been a very distinctive map.
I have searched for this map for twelve years, starting with an investigation into the maps of Toscanelli’s friend Regiomontanus. As described in later chapters, Regiomontanus worked closely with Toscanelli. Some historians, notably Ernst Zinner, the leading authority on Regiomontanus, and Gustavo Uzielli, believe the map Toscanelli sent to Columbus was drawn up with help from Regiomontanus.6 Here is Zinner:
Toscanelli was famous for his 1474 letters to Columbus and Canon Martins in which he advised them about reaching the Indies by crossing the world ocean and suggested a map for the journey. It is possible that there was a prototype of this map in one of Bessarions’s nautical charts which contained islands similar to those found by Columbus; this was reported by Marco Parenti in March 1493. Now Bessarion [backer of Regiomontanus and friend of the pope] died in 1472, so Uzielli who described Toscanelli’s work took the position that the map had been designed by Regiomontanus with Toscanelli’s assistance. Such a collaborative work is not impossible for…the two men were in correspondence.7
At first this seemed a fruitful line of enquiry. In 1471, Regiomontanus received permission to make Nuremberg his home, and the next year he set up a printing press to print documents. In 1472 he stated his intention to publish maps: “et fiet descriptio totius habilitatis note quam vulgo appellant Mappam Mund Ceteru germanie particularis tabula; ite Itali; Hispanie: gallie universe; Greciq.” (My translation: “to make a description of the entire habitable world commonly called a mappa mundi. Germany is described in detail, likewise Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Greece.”)
For the next three years Regiomontanus was preoccupied with ephemeris tables and calendars. In 1475 the pope summoned him to Rome, where Regiomontanus died, probably of the plague. He never got around to publishing his world map. Zinner, in his lengthy book on Regiomontanus, does not mention publication of a world map. So that line of enquiry ended in a cul-de-sac.
Then, out of the blue, in April 2007 I received an e-mail from Mr. A. G. Self, a friend of our website, who attached ten pages from a book on Magellan by F. H. H. Guillemard.8
In the book, Guillemard exhibited globes that Johannes Schöner published in 1515 and 1520.9 The author wished to demonstrate that before Magellan set sail, European globes had been published showing the strait leading from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which we now call the Strait of Magellan. The globes also showed the Pacific and China. The authenticity of Schöner’s globes of 1515, 1520, and 1523 has never been challenged.
I studied Schöner’s 1515 globe with the greatest interest. It was virtually identical to the copy of a globe shown on Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map. Both are shown in the second color insert of this book.
Then the lightning bolt struck. Schöner’s 1515 globe corresponded exactly with the description of the globe in the letters Toscanelli sent to the king of Portugal and Columbus. It is as if Toscanelli had Schöner’s globe in front of him when writing the letters. Below I have quoted Toscanelli (Q) and followed with my remarks (R). Please have Schöner’s globes to hand.
Q: “Often before I have spoken of the sea route from here to India, the land of spices, a route which is shorter than that of Guinea.” R: This is what Schöner’s 1515 and 1520 globes show.
Q: “Although I could show this on a globe representing the earth, I have decided to do it more simply and clearly by demonstrating the map on a nautical chart [i.e., Toscanelli, like Schöner, is copying from a globe, putting the copy on a chart].”
Q: “I therefore send His Majesty a chart drawn by my own hand.”<
br />
R: Schöner’s 1515 and 1520 maps (or charts) are copies of a globe.
Q: “on which I have included the western coast line from Ireland in the north to the end of Guinea, and the islands which lie upon this path.”
R: This part is shown on the 1515 globe’s eastern hemisphere.
Q: “Opposite them, directed to the west, I have included the beginning of India.”
R: China is shown as “India,” “India Superior,” and “India Meridconalis” by Schöner.
Q: “The upright lines on this chart show the distance from east to west, whereas the cross lines show the distance from north to south.”
R: There are more upright and cross lines on Schöner’s 1520 globe, but both of Schöner’s have these.
Q: “From the City of Lisbon to the west, the chart shows 26 sections of 250 miles [6,500 miles] each—altogether nearly one third of the earth’s circumference before reaching the very large and magnificent city of Kinsai.”
R: The Canaries (Fortunate Islands) are shown 120 degrees east of Quisaya [Kinsai]; therefore Lisbon is 125 degrees from Quisaya, approximately one-third of the earth’s circumference (earth’s circumference is 360 × 60 miles, viz 21,600 miles; one-third is 7,200 miles).
Q: “It [Kinsai] lies in the Province of Manji.”
R: Quisaya is shown in Manji province by Schöner.
Q: “near the Province of Cathay.”
R: This is what the 1515 globe shows: “Quisaya Manji which is shown in Manji province and shown above Manji is “Chatay” [Cathay].
Q: “and from the island of Antilia which you call ‘the Island of the Seven Cities,’ to the very famous island of Cipangu are ten sections, that is, two thousand five hundred miles.”
R: Antilia is shown on the 1520 chart at 335° and Zipangu at 265°, a difference of 120 degrees, which at latitude 15° N is approximately 2,500 miles (one-third of earth’s circumference at that latitude).
In sum, Schöner’s 1515 and 1520 globes accord completely with Toscanelli’s descriptions sent to the king of Portugal and to Christopher Columbus. Toscanelli and Schöner must have been copying from the same globe, a globe that had existed before 1474 (when Toscanelli wrote to Columbus). It appears Toscanelli was telling the truth. In the next two chapters we discover how Schöner got the globe that he copied.
10
COLUMBUS’S AND MAGELLAN’S WORLD MAPS
Before discussing how Schöner obtained the globe that served as the model for his 1515 and 1520 globes, we should consider some other possible recipients: first, the king of Portugal1; second, Columbus2; third, the pope3; and fourth, Regiomontanus, who appears to have assisted Toscanelli.4
Let us consider the king of Portugal.
In my book 1421 I gave a brief description of Magellan quashing a mutiny by claiming to have seen a map in the king of Portugal’s library. This story is now fleshed out. (I do not disparage Magellan, who in my eyes stands head and shoulders above all the early European explorers—honest, brave, clever, determined, but above all decent and fair, not least to people who could not protect themselves.)
Magellan’s expedition was well provisioned and fitted out (equipped with Portuguese maps)5 even though he was under the auspices of Spain when he sailed from Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the estuary of the Guadalquivir on September 20, 1519.6 By the time he and his crew reached the coast of Patagonia, in South America, they had finished their hardtack (biscuits) and were reduced to eating rats7 (which the sailors caught and sold), the price of which had trebled. Magellan was in desperate trouble. He was halfway through the strait, surrounded by mountains, with no sign of the Pacific.
A mutiny broke out, and Esteban Gómez seized control of one of Magellan’s five ships, the San Antonio. Pigafetta, the historian aboard Magellan’s flagship, tells us what happened next: “We all believed that it [the strait] was a cul-de-sac; but the captain knew that he had to navigate through a very well-concealed strait, having seen it in a chart preserved in the treasury of the King of Portugal, and made by Martin of Bohemia, a man of great parts.” As I have been accused of inventing this translation, here is the original: “Se non fosse stato il sapere del capitano-generale, non si sarebbe passato per quello stretto, perché tutti credevamo che fosse chiuso; ma egli sapea di dover navigare per uno stretto molto nascosto, avendo ciò veduto in una carta serbata nella tesoreria del Re di Portogallo, e fatta da Martino di Boemia, uomo excellentissimo.”8
When writing 1421, I had tried to find Martin of Bohemia’s chart but had been unable to; it seems to have been destroyed or lost. Because the chart has never been found, some have assumed that Magellan was bluffing, pretending he knew where he was so as to quell the mutiny.
However, there are four pieces of convincing corroborative evidence that Magellan did have a chart that showed not only the strait but also the way across the Pacific.
The first is described in 1421. Magellan showed the king of Lima-sawa in the Philippines a map that, Magellan said, showed how he had reached the Philippines across the Pacific.9
The second is the account of the celebrated Portuguese historian Antonio Galvão (also quoted in 1421), who wrote that the king of Portugal had a map showing the Strait of Magellan:
In the yeere 1428 it is written that Don Peter [Dom Pedro] the King of Portugal’s eldest sonne, was a great traveller. He went into England, France, Al-maine, and from thence into the Holy Land, and to other places; and came home by Italie, taking Rome and Venice in his way: from whence he brought a map of the world which had all the parts of the world and earth described. The Streight of Magelan was called in it the Dragon’s taile.10
Third, the strait was mentioned during the examination of Magellan by King Charles V’s ministers before Magellan set sail. A globe was produced in which the strait was highlighted: “de industria dexò el estrecho en blanco.”
Magellan stressed it was a secret strait: “estrecho de mar no conocido hasta entonces de ninguna persona” (“a strait that was known to nobody until now/then” 11
Finally, the capitulación, the contract between the king of Spain and Magellan signed on March 22, 1518, uses the phrase “para buscar el estrecho de aquéllas mares”—to go in search of the strait.12
So before 1421 was published I sought a map that would have been published before Magellan set sail but still have depicted the strait. There were several candidates. In the Venetian Doges’ Palace there is an early-fifteenth-century map showing Asia and the Pacific (described in chapter 7). This map has two roundels, which state how it was composed from information brought home to Venice by Marco Polo and Niccolò da Conti. Marco Polo returned in 1295 and Niccolò da Conti by 1434, possibly as early as 1424.
Despite showing the Pacific and America, the doge’s map does not show the southern part of the Americas. There is another map in the map room that does show South America and a route from Atlantic to Pacific, but unfortunately it is undated. Waldseemüller’s 1507 world map (see color insert 2) shows South America and the Pacific with remarkable accuracy, but it is centerd on 20° N and stops at 45° S. The strait, which is at 52°40' S, is missing. However, Waldseemüller said in his Cosmographiae Introductio that the Americas “have been found to be surrounded on all sides by sea.”13 So Waldseemüller must have known that there was a way from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The one European map published before Magellan set sail that does show a strait leading from the Atlantic to the Pacific is Johannes Schöner’s 1515 globe. This was published before Magellan’s examination by Charles V’s ministers and before the capitulación between Magellan and the king of Spain. It is thus consistent with all the evidence. The authenticity of Schöner’s globes has never been challenged. In 1520, before Magellan’s expedition returned, Schöner published a second copy of a globe, which shows a similar strait.
If we assume for the moment that Schöner’s 1515 globe was the same as that which Toscanelli copied for Columbus, we face two questions: First, what would Columbus’s react
ion have been? Second, is there a similar map that can be positively identified as having been received and acted upon by Columbus?
Columbus knew the Portuguese were pushing down the coast of Africa to exploit the eastern trade routes to the Indian Ocean and beyond. It seems clear from Toscanelli’s letter to Columbus that Columbus was interested in finding a western route to China: “I perceived your magnificent and grand desire to navigate from parts of the east to the west [i.e., to sail westward to China],” Toscanelli wrote, “in the way that was set forth in the letter that I sent you [a copy of the letter to Canon Martinez] and which will be demonstrated better on a round sphere.” In short, Toscanelli is clearly helping Columbus achieve his aim of reaching China by sailing west.
Columbus then received the map from Toscanelli (chapter 9, note 1), which indeed shows the way westward to China as Toscanelli described it. However, it also shows an unknown continent (America) between Portugal and China. What would Columbus have made of this new continent? Very likely he would have done his best to get his hands on it. He was a greedy man, as we know from his lawsuit with the king of Spain (Pleitos de Colón.)14
In the “Privileges and Prerogatives” that Columbus signed with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella eighteen years later, before his “first voyage” to the Americas, Columbus had abandoned any thought of going to China. He was after the land that had been discovered on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean.
PRIVILEGES AND PREROGRATIVES GRANTED BY THEIR CATHOLIC MAJESTIES TO CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS: 1492. FERDINAND AND ISABELLA BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING AND QUEEN OF CASTILE, OF LEON, OF ARAGON, OF SICILY, OF GRANADA, OF TOLEDO, OF VALENCIA, OF GALICIA, OF MAJORCA, OF MINORCA, OF SEVILLE, OF SARDINIA, OF JAEN, OF ALGARVE, OF ALGEZIRA, OF GIBRALTAR, OF THE CANARY ISLANDS, COUNT AND COUNTESS OF BARCELONA, LORD AND LADY OF BISCAY AND MOLINA, DUKE AND DUCHESS OF ATHENS AND NEOPATRIA, COUNT AND COUNTESS OF ROUSILLION AND CERDAIGNE, MARQUESS AND MARCHIONESS OF ORISTAN AND GOCIANO etc.
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