Blog originally posted December 11, 2017
At the Archives we work to collect, preserve, and make accessible records that reflect the history of Simcoe County – but that doesn’t mean that all of our materials originate here. One of the most intriguing records maintained by the Archives is a 16th century, European-made map of the American continents.
Officially entitled “Tabula novarum insularum, quas Diversis respectibus Occidentales & Indianas uocant,” but often referred to as “The Münster Map” by SCA staff, the map was created by German cartographer Sebastian Münster (1488-1552). It is considered one of the earliest European depictions of the Americas.
![Tabula novarum insularum, quas Diversis respectibus Occidentales & Indianas uocant 976-63, from the Norman D. Clarke Collection.](https://simcoe.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/976-63-Sebastian-Munster-Tabula-Novarum-480.jpg)
The Münster map was first printed in Ptolemy’s Geographica in 1540, and later included in a very popular German-language atlas entitled Cosmographia, published in 1544.The map was created during a period in European history that has been dubbed the Age of Discovery or Age of Exploration. This period spanned from approximately the mid-15th to mid-16th century. Spurred by increased demand for imported goods and materials from Asia, many European nations were seeking faster, alternate trade routes to the east. For a time it is was believed that a western route across the Atlantic Ocean could be established. The exploratory voyage of Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan from 1519-1920 went a significance distance to dispelling the belief that a direct route across the Atlantic was possible. Magellan’s influence is clear on the Münster Map: Not only does it feature Magellan’s Strait, but Münster also included an illustration of Magellan’s ship the Victoria.
![976-63, from the Norman D. Clarke Collection.](https://simcoe.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/976-63-Sebastian-Munster-Victoria-480.jpg)
Another notable feature of the map is the inclusion of the false Sea of Verrazzano. The Sea of Verrazzano was believed by European cartographers, at one point, to be a navigable Northwestern passage to Asia. By the time Münster set out to create his map, Europeans had a slightly better grasp on the size and magnitude of the American continents – although the myth of the false sea persisted.
The Münster map was donated to the Simcoe County Archives by Norman Dwight Clarke (1893-1977) in 1976. It is now part of the cartographic series in the Norman D. Clarke Collection.
Works consulted
- Schwartz, Seymour I. (2008). The Mismapping of America. Rochester, NY: University Rochester Press. Pg. 56.
- The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica. (2017). The Age of Discovery. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-exploration/The-Age-of-Discovery