Entire Volume 17 issue 1 - Journal of World-Systems Research ...

EXTERNALITY AND INCORPORATION 184
This is evidenced by the way the region is represented throughout the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Gerard Mercator’s world map of 1569 is insightful, as “Mercator
conceived his map as an intellectual document to be read and studied” with many lengthy texts,
including a “demythologizing account of the Prester John legend” (Whitfield 1994:66).
Reflecting Mercator’s extensive research into travel narratives, geographical literature, and
navigational reports, the map was published thirty years after his previous world map, and may be
viewed as a comprehensive encapsulation of European knowledge. While relatively free of the
space-filling figures and fanciful animals populating the continental interiors of earlier works,
Ethiopia is still conspicuous precisely because of the Prester John figure in the African interior.
This reflects European knowledge concerning Ethiopia: reference to Prester John, mountainous,
with some realization that it may be related to the source of the Nile.
The static nature of Ethiopia in European awareness is clear with only a cursory
examination of period maps. Abraham Ortelius produced a widely distributed and copied version
of the Kingdom of Prester John in 1573.
Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is described as the first modern atlas, and went
through 32 editions after its initial publication in 1570. Based partially on reports of the
Portuguese embassies, some modern names are recognizable (viz., Goiame and Tigrai). The
overall extent of Abyssinia is greatly exaggerated and river drainages are drawn for effect.
Nevertheless, because of its wide publication, this became the dominant image of the region for
the next two centuries.
Figure 5: “Abissinorum”. Hondius, Jodocus (1613). “Abissinorum sive Pretiofi Ioannis
Imperiu” [Map], Amsterdam. First edition published in 1606.