Geography in the Middle Ages

• China continues to be far ahead of Christian Europe

• Geography a vehicle for Christian propaganda in Europe

• Muslim translation of Greek works

• The Norse sailing to Iceland, Greenland, North America

Ancient Influences on Medieval Geography

• Plato (428 - 348 BCE)

• Aristotle (384 - 322 BCE)– climatic zones

• Ptolemy (85 - 165 CE)– geocentric model of the universe

Contemporary Influences

• Isidore of Seville (560-636)

• Environmental Determinist

• Albertus Magnus (1193-1280)

• Astrology & Environmental Determinism

The Deterioration of Mapping

• 1493 T - O Map • Translation

Medieval Christian Travelers

• Silvia of Aquitaine• 1 of the 1st woman

geographers• early 5th century• western Spain• Wrote The Pilgrimage

of Egeria

The Crusades

• 8 separate crusades between 1096 & 1270

• Extensive travel over sea & land from all parts of Europe to the Holy Land

• Popular description & travel was geography

Marco Polo

• 2 brothers & a son– Nicolo & Marco

– Maffeo

• Traders, not Geographers

• 1271 - 1295• To China by land• To Venice by sea

The Polo’s Journey

Bright Spots in Medieval Geography

• William of Conches (1080-1154)– philosopher & theologian

– translated Arabic work

– modern ideas concerning• heating of the atmosphere from below

• formation of clouds by cooling air

• Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln (1175-1253)– also an Arabic speaker

– refuted Aristotle’s climatic zones

– taught Roger Bacon

Petrus Roselli, 1466, Majorca

Portolan Charts

• From “portolani”– pilots or rutters

• Portolan chart– network of lines

– coastlines

– place names

– scale of distance

– compass

– shoals, reefs, islands

• List of – places

– distances

– directions

– conditions at sea

– port dangers

– safe anchorages

Albino de Canepa, 1489, Genoa

Olaus Magnus, 16th century1st large scale map of a European Region