Mapamundi de martin behaim biography wikipedia

Navigator and geographer of great pretensions, born at Nuremberg, according to one tradition, about ; according to Ghillany, as late as He was drawn to Portugal by participation in Flanders trade, and acquired a scientific reputation at the court of John II. His alleged introduction of the cross-staff into Portugal an invention described by the Spanish Jew, Levi ben Gerson , in the 14th century is a matter of controversy; his improvements in the astrolabe were perhaps limited to the introduction of handy brass instruments in place of cumbrous wooden ones; it seems likely that he helped to prepare better navigation tables than had yet been known in the Peninsula.

On his return from his West African exploration to Lisbon he was knighted by King John, who afterwards employed him in various capacities; but, from the time of his marriage in , he usually resided at Fayal in the Azores, where his father-in-law, Jobst van Huerter, was governor of a Flemish colony.

What did martin behaim discover

The antiquity of this globe and the year of its execution, on the eve of the discovery of America, are noteworthy; but as a scientific work it is unimportant, ranking far below the portolani charts of the 14th century. Its West Africa is marvellously incorrect; the Cape Verde archipelago lies hundreds of miles out of its proper place; and the Atlantic is filled with fabulous islands.

It is generally agreed that Behaim had no share in Transatlantic discovery; and though Columbus and he were apparently in Portugal at the same time, no connection between the two has been established. He died at Lisbon in See C. Journal, Aug. Ferreira de Serpa in Bull. Contents Bibliographic Record.