1574 Tabula Asiae XI

This is a fine example of Ruscelli’s map of India on trapezoidal projection, issued for an Italian edition of his work La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino. It is based on the work of Ptolemy and Giacomo Gastaldi, and depicts India and the land mass south and westward from China as it was perceived by many cartographers at the time. The map covers a vast area starting from the Ganges River in the west, extending to China, Burma, Vietnam and the China Sea. It extends from the Himalaya Mountains in the north south to the tip of the Malay Peninsula and back to the west, suggesting the view held by many, beginning with Ptolemy, that the Indian Ocean was landlocked. A number of river systems and mountain ranges are depicted and many cities are named. Girolamo Ruscelli (1500-1566) was an Italian cartographer, polymath, humanist and editor, active in Venice during the early 16th century. Ruscelli is best known for his important revision of Ptolemy's Geographia, published posthumously