1552 Transsylvania XXI Nova Tabula

This marvelous and scarce Munster woodcut is the earliest obtainable map to specifically depict Transylvania. It is based on the 1530 map by Rumanian cartographer Johannes Honterus. This attractive woodblock map covers the region of present-day Romania which at the time was the heartland of the Saxon community in southern Transylvania. This example is from the rare 1552 edition of Munster’s Geographia, the only one to feature coordinate bars at top and bottom. The map depicts the cities, rivers and forests of the vast area, and extends from Moldavia to Bulgaria in the east. The map’s western border lies within the boundaries of modern-day Romania. At the time Munster made his map of Transylvania and its Alps, the Carpathians, the area was part of the Ottoman Empire under the rule of one its greatest Sultans, Suleiman the Magnificent. The region was semi-autonomic, and according to Ottoman custom its reigning princes (Hungarian) were only required to pay tribute to the Ottomans in order