This Earthly Globe: A Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World

Giovambattista Ramusio published Navigationi et Viaggi in 1550, containing a wealth of geographical information new to Europeans. Andrea di Robilant's book brings to life the man who democratized knowledge and showed how the world was much larger than previously imagined.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 01 August 2024
Publisher: Atlantic Books

Peter Frankopan's "The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" is a captivating tale that has received widespread acclaim from critics. The book has been praised for its brilliant storytelling and has been awarded 5* by the Sunday Telegraph. It has also been hailed as a triumph by the Literary Review, which gave it a perfect score of 5*. The book chronicles the Age of Discovery in the autumn of 1550, when an anonymously authored volume containing a wealth of geographical information new to Europeans was published in Venice under the title "Navigationi et Viaggi" (Journeys and Navigations). This was closely followed by two further volumes that, when taken together, constituted the largest release of geographical data in history and could well be considered the birth of modern geography. The editor of these volumes was a little-known public servant in the Venetian government, Giovambattista Ramusio. He gathered a vast array of both popular and closely guarded narratives, from the journals of Marco Polo to detailed reports from the Muslim scholar and diplomat Leo Africanus. In an enthralling narrative, Andrea di Robilant brings to life the man who used all his political skill, along with the help of conniving diplomats and spies, to democratize knowledge and show how the world was much larger than anyone previously imagined.

Weight: 504g
Dimension: 162 x 242 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780857891792
Edition number: Main