The earliest portolan — or nautical — chart in the James Ford Bell Library was made in 1424 by a Venetian cartographer whose name almost certainly was Zuane Pizzigano (Parker 1955, 3). This manuscript portolan chart on vellum is approximately two by three feet in size. Like the Carte Pisane, the 1424 Nautical Chart is simple, with no pictoral decoration, and it does not have a separate decorated compass rose.

1424 Nautical

Cartography

magnifying glass Under the Magnifying Glass

The 1424 Nautical
north
south
west
East
center

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