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Description

Ptolemy's World -- Depicted As Projection of the Eastern Hemisphere

Interesting map of 18th century map of the Eastern Hemisphere, depicting the world as known to Ptolemy, super-imposed over a more modern map.

The map follows a tradition established by the French to show both known and unknown cartographic features on a single map. This was done by utilizing different shading styles to depict what was known, versus what was simply theorized or reported without adequate proof to be a certainty.

The present map makes use of this technique, but also superimposes modern knowledge over the information known to Ptolemy. This is most notable in the two very different depictions of the west coast of Africa and the different placements of Madagascar and the eastern coastline of Africa.

The northeastern coastline of Asia is shown in a lighter format, as is the known parts of Australia,. To the east of Australia, the remnants of Ptolemy's closed Indian Ocean are shown.

The explanation in English below the map discusses means by which this style was applied on the map.