Portolan chart

A medieval and early modern nautical chart showing coastlines, ports, and networks of rhumb lines used to plot courses. Its dense directional lines distinguish it from ordinary coastal maps.

Rhumb line: A line crossing every meridian at the same angle, representing a constant compass bearing. These lines radiate across portolan charts to help plot courses by compass direction.
Mediterranean Sea: A sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean and bordered by Europe, Africa, and Asia. The earliest surviving portolan charts focus on routes and shores around this sea.
Medieval cartography: Mapmaking practices in Europe and the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. Portolan charts are a specialized practical tradition within this broader history of mapmaking.
Mediterranean trade: The exchange of goods among communities bordering the Mediterranean Sea and its connected routes. Commercial voyages created practical demand for charts showing ports and coastal routes.
Genoese world map of 1457: A world map made in Genoa in 1457, combining portolan-style detail with geographic information about distant regions. It extends nautical chart conventions into a world map rather than a chart focused on coasts.
Compass rose: A figure on a map showing compass directions, often with points for the principal winds. Its directional framework helps interpret the chart’s intersecting rhumb lines.
Pisan chart: A late thirteenth-century nautical chart of the Mediterranean and Black Sea, among the oldest surviving portolan charts. It is an early surviving example of the chart tradition.
Parchment: A durable writing surface made from prepared animal skin. Many portolan charts were drawn on parchment, sometimes in the shape of a whole animal skin.
Maritime navigation: The planning and directing of vessels’ movement across seas and other navigable waters. Portolan charts are tools within the broader practice of navigation at sea.
Mappa mundi: A medieval European map of the world, often organized around religious or encyclopedic ideas. Unlike a portolan chart, a mappa mundi was generally not designed to guide coastal voyages.

Linked from 16 pages