Memory of the World; 2012 - unesdoc - Unesco

of cartography, navigation and seafaring. The discovery
of the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries
is extensively charted, and the Nordic regions are
exhaustively covered in geographic and cartographic
literature. The collection shows the influence of the
exploration of new regions in commerce, navigation
technology and political power from ancient to modern
times and reveals throughout mankind’s search for
innovations and new discoveries.
The collection formed the basis of his Facsimile Atlas
of 1889. The work reproduced the most important maps
of the 15th and 16th centuries and included maps by
Ptolemy, the earliest maps made of the New World and
maps from atlases of the period. In Periplus, published in
1897, he charted the history of early cartography and the
� One of the oldest printed cartographic maps
of maritime Europe (1586).
charts mariners used in medieval times, covering not only
portolan charts but also mappae mundi and regional maps.
His extensive collection was bequeathed to the university
library of Helsinki, the city of his birth, after his death in
1901. The maps and associated material take up 400 metres
of shelving.
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