Münster’s map of the World

This double-page woodcut copy was published in the first edition of Sebastian Münster’s atlas, the Geographia Universalis, Vetus et Nova (Universal Geography, Old and New), in 1540. This is after both the Renaissance and Reformation. Münster was skilled in ancient languages, mathematics and cartography and sought to represent the work of Ptolemy in an accurate, newly translated edition.

This map is decorated in the margins with images of Antipodean monsters, and is significant for its ability to demonstrate the survival of ancient conceptions about the world, including the existence of a monster-filled Great South Land.

These ideas remained current in the 16th century, until improved navigation and a greater reliance on empirical evidence began to challenge older beliefs.