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Domenico And Francesco Pizzigano
Domenico and Francesco Pizzigano, known as the Pizzigani brothers, were 14th-century Venetian cartographers. Their surname is sometimes given as Pizigano (only one 'z') in older sources. 1367 chart ] The Pizzigani brothers are principally known for the construction of a portolan chart, signed and dated 1367, currently held by the Biblioteca Palatina of Parma (Ms.Parm.1612). Measuring 138 by 92 cm, it is one of the largest maps of that era. There is some controversy over the authorship. The note on the edge of the map, states (in one reading): ""MCCCLXVII. Hoc opus compoxuid franciscus pizigano veneciar et domnus pizigano In Venexia meffecit marcus die XII decembris.". The common assumption is that this refers to two brothers, Francesco Pizzigano and Domenico Pizzigano. Among the various alternative hypothesis is that Francesco was the son of Domenico, rather than his brother (and that Domenico might be dead by this date); that 'domnus' is a title for a priest, that th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republic Of Venice
The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto, over the course of its History of the Republic of Venice, 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the ''Dogado'' area (a territory currently comparable to the Metropolitan City of Venice), during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and eastern Ionian Sea, Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed Crete, Cyprus, the Peloponnese, a number of List of islands of Greece, Greek islands, as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antillia
Antillia (or Antilia) is a phantom island that was reputed, during the 15th-century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain. The island also went by the name of Isle of Seven Cities (''Ilha das Sete Cidades'' in Portuguese, ''Isla de las Siete Ciudades'' in Spanish). It originates from an old Iberian legend, set during the Muslim conquest of Hispania . Seeking to flee from the Muslim conquerors, seven Christian Visigothic bishops embarked with their flocks on ships and set sail westwards into the Atlantic Ocean, eventually landing on an island (''Antillia'') where they founded seven settlements. The island makes its first explicit appearance as a large rectangular island in the 1424 portolan chart of Zuane Pizzigano. Thereafter, it routinely appeared in most nautical charts of the 15th century. After 1492, when the north Atlantic Ocean began to be routinely sailed and became more accurately mapped, depictions of Antillia grad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cape Non
Cape Chaunar, Cap Uarsig, Cape Nun, ''Cap Noun'', ''Cabo de Não'' or ''Nant'' is a cape on the Atlantic coast of Africa, in southern Morocco, between Tarfaya and Sidi Ifni. By the 15th century it was considered insurmountable by Arabs and Europeans, thus resulting in the name meaning cape "no" in Portuguese. Cape Chaunar is the true northern coastal limit of the Sahara desert, although nearby Cape Bojador is frequently mistakenly called this. History The thirteenth-century Genovese navigators Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi may have sailed as far as Cape Non before being lost at sea. It was named ''Cabo do Não'' ("Cape No") by Portuguese mariners during the fifteenth century, being considered the impassable limit for Arab and European sailors, the ''non plus ultra'' beyond which no navigation could occur. This was due to the cape running far out into the sea, causing it to break and appear dangerous. "Quem o passa tornará ou não" (whoever passes it will make it or not), wrot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nile
The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river systems by length, longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer.Amazon Longer Than Nile River, Scientists Say Of the world's major rivers, the Nile has one of the lowest average annual flow rates. About long, its drainage basin covers eleven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt. In pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mountains Of The Moon (Africa)
250px, ''Jibhel Kumri'' or Mountains of the Moon as conceived in 1819 The Mountains of the Moon (Latin: ''Montes Lunae''; , ' or ''Jibbel el Kumri'') are a legendary mountain or mountain range in east Africa at the source of the Nile River. Various identifications have been made in modern times, the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo being the most celebrated. Ancient testimony People of the ancient world—especially ancient Greek geographers—were long curious about the source of the Nile. A number of expeditions up the Nile failed to find the source. Eventually, a merchant named Diogenes reported that he had traveled inland from Rhapta in East Africa for twenty-five days and had found the source of the Nile. He reported that it flowed from a group of massive mountains into a series of large lakes. He reported the natives called this range the Mountains of the Moon because of their snow-capped whiteness. These reports were accepted as true ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire (Manding languages, Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or ''Manden Duguba''; ) was an empire in West Africa from 1226 to 1610. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita () and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa (Musa Keita). At its peak, Mali was the largest empire in West Africa, widely influencing the culture of the region through the spread of Manding languages, its language, laws, and customs. The empire began as a small Mandinka people, Mandinka kingdom at the upper reaches of the Niger River, centered around the Manding region. It began to develop during the 11th and 12th centuries as the Ghana Empire, or Wagadu, declined and trade epicentres shifted southward. The Pre-imperial Mali, history of the Mali Empire before the 13th century is unclear, as there are conflict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niger River
The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, discharging through a massive River delta, delta, known as the Niger Delta, into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa, exceeded by the Nile and the Congo River. Its main tributary is the Benue River. Etymology The Niger has different names in the different languages of the region: * Fula language, Fula: ''Maayo Jaaliba'' * Manding languages, Manding: ''Jeliba'' or ''Joliba'' "great river" * Tuareg languages, Tuareg: ''Eġərəw n-Igərǝwăn'' "river of rivers" * Songhay languages, Songhay: ''Isa'' "the river" * Zarma language, Zarma: ''Isa Beeri'' "great river" * Hausa language, Hausa: ''Kwara'' *Nupe language, Nupe: ''Èdù'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senegal River
The Senegal River ( or "Senegal" - compound of the Serer term "Seen" or "Sene" or "Sen" (from Roog Seen, Supreme Deity in Serer religion) and "O Gal" (meaning "body of water")); , , , ) is a river in West Africa; much of its length marks part of the border between Senegal and Mauritania. It has a drainage basin of , a mean flow of , and an annual discharge of . Important tributaries are the Falémé River, Karakoro River, and the Gorgol River. The river divides into two branches once it passes Kaédi. The left branch, called the Doué, runs parallel to the main river to the north. After the two branches rejoin a few kilometers downstream of Podor. In 1972 Mali, Mauritania and Senegal founded the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) to manage the river basin. Guinea joined in 2005. , only very limited use was made of the river for the transportation of goods and passengers. The OMVS have looked at the feasibility of creating a navigable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī (), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1094) was an Arab Andalusian historian and a geographer of the Muslim West. Life Al-Bakri was born in Huelva, the son of the sovereign of a short-lived principality established there by his family when the Caliphate of Cordoba fell in 1031. Al-Bakri belonged to the Arab tribe of Bakr. When his father was deposed by al-Mu'tadid (1042–1069) of the ruler of Taifa of Seville, he then moved to Córdoba, where he studied with the geographer al-Udri and the historian Ibn Hayyan. He spent his entire life in Al-Andalus, most of it in Seville and Almeria. While in Seville, he was there when El Cid arrived to collect tributes from Alfonso VI. He died in Córdoba without ever having travelled to the locations of which he wrote. Works Al-Bakri wrote about Europe, North Africa, and the Arabian peninsula. Only two of his works have survived. His ''Mu'jam m� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medici Atlas
The Medici-Laurentian Atlas, also known simply as the Medici Atlas (and other variants, e.g. "Laurenziano Gaddiano", "Laurentian Portolano", "Atlante Mediceo" or "Laurentian Atlas"), is an anonymous 14th-century set of maps, probably composed by a Genoese cartographer and explicitly dated 1351, although most historians believe it was composed, or at least retouched, later. The atlas is currently held by the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, Italy. Background The author of the Medici-Laurentian atlas is unknown, save that he comes from the Liguria region of Italy (probably Genoese), and might have composed it for a Florentine owner. The atlas is explicitly dated 1351 (as per its astronomical calendar), but scholars believed it was more likely composed around 1370, possibly from earlier material, and probably amended further later, with emendations as late as 1425–50. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Idrisi
Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi (; ; 1100–1165), was an Arab Muslim geographer and cartographer who served in the court of King Roger II at Palermo, Sicily. Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta, then belonging to the Almoravid dynasty. He created the , one of the most advanced medieval world maps. Early life Al-Idrisi hailed from the Hammudid dynasty of North Africa and Al-Andalus, which was descended from Muhammad through the powerful Idrisid dynasty. Al-Idrisi was believed to be born the city of Ceuta in 1100, at the time controlled by the Almoravids, where his great-grandfather had been forced to settle after the fall of Hammudid Málaga to the Zirids of Granada. He spent much of his early life travelling through North Africa and Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain and Portugal of the times) and seems to have acquired detailed information on both regions. He visited Anatolia when he was barely 16. He studied in the universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Masudi
al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geography, natural science and philosophy, his celebrated magnum opus '' The Meadows of Gold'' () combines universal history with scientific geography, social commentary and biography. Birth, travels and literary output Apart from what al-Mas'udi writes of himself little is known. Born in Baghdad, he was descended from Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of Islamic prophet Muhammad. It is believed that he was a member of Banu Hudhayl tribe of Arabs. Al-Masudi mentions a number of scholar associates he encountered during his journeys: Al-Masʿudi may have reached Sri Lanka and China although he is known to have met Abu Zayd al-Sirafi on the coast of the Persian Gulf and received information on China from him.[Mas‘udi. ''The Meadows of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
