11th Century: Map of the World

Book of Curiosities (Egypt - 11th Century)

This world map is from a 12th or 13th century copy of an anonymous 11th century Egyptian cosmology entitled The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes. The book includes diagrams of celestial bodies as well as maps of the then known world.

This is the earliest existing rectangular world map dating from before the Renaissance, and it includes the first known graduated scale along the top. North is at the bottom.

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