Aiig - Associazione Italiana Insegnanti Geografia

Rediscovering African Geographies The Catalan Atlas , 1375, by Abraham Cresques – detail showing Northern Africa, with a depiction of The King of Mali and Lord of Guinea, Mansa Musa, 1312-1337, seated on his throne in a stately fashion with crown, orb, and scepter, with the inscription: The richest and noblest King in the world. “This ‘atlas’ was the work of a family of Catalonian Jews who worked in Majorca at the end of the 14th century and was commissioned by Charles V of France at a time when the reputation of the Catalan chartmakers was at its peak. King Charles requested this map from Peter of Aragon, patron of the best Majorcan mapmaker of the time: Abraham Cresques. The title of the Atlas shows clearly the spirit in which it was executed and its content: Mappamundi, that is to say, image of the world and of the regions which are on the earth and of the various kinds of peoples which inhabit it . (excerpted from Henry Davis Consulting at From the blurb announcing the exhibit: Historical map of Africa, 1885, by J.