Giovanni Matteo Contarini (1452-1507) was a

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an i ...

and likely a member of a prominent

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family. In 1506, Contarini created a world map that Francesco Rosselli later engraved. The Contarini-Rosselli map is the first world map to have Columbus' discoveries incorporated. It was first discovered in 1922 and currently resides in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

. On the map, Contarini refers to himself as "famed in the Ptolemaean art" but no other maps by him have surfaced. In a titular inscription describing his map, Contarini called the land later called ''America'' by Martin Waldseemüller the ''Antipodes''. The inscription, placed to the west of this land said:

The world and all its seas on a plane map, Europe, Lybia .e., Africa Asia, and the Antipodes, the poles and zones and sites of places, the parallels for the climes of the mighty globe, lo! Giovanni Matteo Contarini, famed in the Ptolemæan art, has compiled and marked it out. Whither away? Stay, traveller, and behold new nations and a new-found world.“Orbem terrarum in planam et maria omnia mappam Europam Lybiam atque Asiam Antipodesque redegit distinxitque polos zonasque situs locorum atque paralelos ad magna climata mundi Janus Matheus Ptolomaea inclytus arte En Contarenus: Quo pergis? Siste viator Atque novas specta gentes orbemque recentem”; Robert J. King, “The Antipodes on Martin Waldseemüller’s 1507 World Map”, ''The Globe,'' no.91, 2022, pp. 43-60.

Contarini father was Marco Contarini of

San Cassiano San Cassiano is a town and '' comune'' in the Italian province of Lecce and region of Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demogr ...

References

16th-century Italian cartographers 1507 deaths Giovanni Matteo 1452 births {{Italy-bio-stub