Carta Pisana

Timeline

1. c. 1275–1300Pisa · TuscanyAn anonymous cartographer drew the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea on parchment, organizing directions with two compass roses and a rhumb-line network, and densely labeling port names, showing a departure from the theological schemes of medieval world maps.
2. c. 1280–1400Mediterranean sea routes · MediterraneanCharts of this kind were used by merchant ships and galleys for coastal sailing in reference to the compass. The cartographic language represented by the Carta Pisana was copied and refined in workshops in Genoa, Venice, and Majorca, forming the portolan chart tradition.
3. 1839Bibliothèque nationale de France · FranceThe original chart takes its name from being found in Pisa; it was purchased by Jomard in 1839 for the Royal Library in Paris and is now held in the map department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Ge B 1118 RES). Modern cartographic history regards it as one of the earliest surviving portolan charts, used to discuss the origins and methods of 13th-century nautical charting.