Mapping European knowledge about the Silk Roads in the fifteenth century

During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, new geographical knowledge and new mapping techniques emerged in Europe. These profoundly changed European understanding of the silk roads and their depiction on world maps. Instrumental in these developments was the rediscovery of maps of antiquity, such as that of Ptolemy, the diffusion of travel accounts, and the development of portolans, maritime charts of ports, and coastlines. But within Europe, there were big differences between the mapmakers of northern Europe and those of the Mediterranean. This chapter is a case study of two surviving German world maps of the period and the influences on their depiction of East Asia.