Ungelöste Rätsel der Entdeckergeschichte

It is one of the unresolved mysteries of archaeology whether the high cultures of the Old World were engaged in a cultural exchange with the lands beyond the Atlantic. This book utilizes rare evidence and accounts from ancient cartographers that provide indications that there was likely knowledge of the New World. For instance, the idea of sailing westward across the Atlantic from Spain to India did not originate with Columbus (1492) or Toscanelli (1474). The intellectual originator must be considered the ancient cartographer Eratosthenes (273 – 194 BC), who already reported on large inhabited land masses in the western sea. Another mystery in the history of cartography is where the two German cartographers Waldseemüller and Ringmann obtained their knowledge for the conception of a completely new worldview (1507) immediately after the (re)discovery of the New World. A multitude of early works provides further hints that cartographers had access to ancient sources for a certain period. Of particular importance is the marble globe from Gotha (1533), which seems to preserve an unsolved mystery with its detailed representation of South America, Antarctica, and an ancient Egyptian ocean-going vessel.