Braunswyck u Meydburg cum ceteris adiacentibus.

Title

Braunswyck u Meydburg cum ceteris adiacentibus.

Map shows the Duchy of Brunswick with the cities of Hanover, Hildesheim, Goslar, etc. in present-day Lower Saxony. It also shows the Bishopric of Magdeburg with the cities of Halberstadt, Mansfeld, Magdeburg (=Meydburg), Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Havelberg and many more in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. Furthermore, a title cartouche and a cartouche with a mile indicator. Reverse side with Latin text, p. 253.

ca. 1585

Artist

Mercator (1512-1594)

Gerardus Mercator (1512 - 1594). He was a cartographer, philosopher and mathematician. He is best known for his work in cartography, in particular the world map of 1569 based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing as straight lines. He is renowned to the present day as the cartographer who created a world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing as straight lines. In his own day he was the world's most famous geographer but in addition he had interests in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics and magnetism as well as being an accomplished engraver, calligrapher and maker of globes and scientific instruments. He wrote few books but much of his knowledge is to be found in the copious legends on his wall maps and the prefaces that he composed for his atlas ,the first in which the term "atlas" appears and the sections within it.

Historical Description

The area of today's state of Saxony-Anhalt was one of the cultural focal points in the German-speaking area in the early Middle Ages. Today's state capital Magdeburg was at that time one of the political centers in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The well-preserved architectural monuments from the Romanesque and Gothic periods, such as the cathedrals in Magdeburg and Halberstadt, the old town of Quedlinburg and many castles and churches, testify to the earlier importance of the entire region. The state was created in July 1947 through the unification of the Free State of Anhalt with the Prussian provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg, which the Free State of Prussia had created in April 1944 by dividing its province of Saxony.