Expanding the World from 180 to 360 Degrees

The Printing of the Map
Latitude and Longitude
The Earth's Shapes

In his globe Waldseemüller followed the printed Ptolemy maps of his time by placing zero longitude in the Fortunate Islands (Canary Islands).


Ptolemy's Fortunates Wald's Fortunates
Ptolemy
Waldseemüller

Waldseemüller's globe extends eastwards from zero longitude to 360 degrees, the first map known to show the whole earth.

Waldseemuller's longitude

Ptolemy's world map depicted only 180 degrees of longitude, the extent of the world known to him.

Ptolemy's longitude

Young Navigator linkGeography

magnifying glassUnder the Magnifying Glass

The Globe
East 3 gores detail
Near East Detail
Far East Detail
Amercia detail

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