Ancient World map, 1600

This richly ornamented double-hemisphere world map, titled “Orbis Terrae Novissima Descriptio”, represents one of the most influential visual summaries of global geographic knowledge from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Presented in two balanced hemispheres, the map divides the world between the Americas on the left and Europe, Africa, and Asia on the right, using a projection that emphasizes symmetry, legibility, and cosmographic order rather than strict navigational accuracy.

The continents are delicately engraved and hand-colored, with coastlines rendered in confident detail while interiors combine known political entities with speculative geography. North America appears labeled as “America sive India Nova,” reflecting lingering uncertainty in early European conceptions of the New World, while South America is more confidently outlined, informed by Iberian exploration. Africa is shown with a recognizable outline but an interior still shaped by classical sources and traveler accounts. Asia extends broadly eastward, with Japan prominently placed and hints of a vast southern continent, Terra Australis, occupying the lower portions of the hemispheres.

Beyond geography, the map is a statement of Renaissance cosmology. Elaborate decorative elements frame the hemispheres, including windheads, compass roses, allegorical figures, and astronomical instruments that underscore the relationship between terrestrial space and the heavens. Insets at the corners illustrate climatic zones and latitude tables, reinforcing the scientific ambitions of early modern cartography. Ships and sea creatures animate the oceans, evoking exploration, commerce, and the perceived dangers of global travel.

The Latin inscriptions, including biblical quotations, situate the map within a Christian worldview, asserting divine order over the inhabited world. Overall, this map functions as both a practical reference and a visual manifesto of early modern Europe’s expanding horizons, blending empirical discovery, classical tradition, religious meaning, and artistic refinement into a single authoritative image of the world.