Cosmographia (Sebastian Münster)


The Cosmographia by Sebastian Münster from 1544 is the earliest German-language description of the world.
It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French, Italian, English, and Czech. The last German edition was published in 1628, long after his death. The Cosmographia was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century. It passed through 24 editions in 100 years. This success was due to the notable woodcuts. It was most important in reviving geography in 16th-century Europe. Among the notable maps within Cosmographia is the map "Tabula novarum insularum", which is credited as the first map to show the American continents as geographically discrete.
His earlier geographic works were Germania descriptio and Mappa Europae. In 1540, he published a Latin edition of Ptolemy's Geographia with illustrations.

Contents

As late as the 1598 edition, the content consisted of:

Editions