1545 Tabula Europae III (France)

Based on the work of Ptolemy, this trapezoidal Münster map depicts the Low Countries and France along with portions of England, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the mountainous northwest portion of Italy. It extends from the Atlantic to just east of the Rhine River and from Mare Germanicus to the Mediterranean. The Pyrenees Mountains, the Alps, and other mountain ranges are depicted in beautiful detail, as are both major and minor river systems in the region. Cities, towns, fortresses and cathedrals are represented. The ocean and seas are stippled. The map is remarkably accurate for its time. Sebastien Münster (1488-1552), one of the most influential cartographers of the sixteenth century, Münster published his edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia in 1540. It contained 48 woodcut maps, including the usual Ptolemaics, along with a number of new maps of great import in the mapping of 16th century Europe. This publication brought him great acclaim and seriously influenced successive