Nautical Maps, Between Imagination and Reality: the Catalan Atlas

The Catalan Atlas is no exception to the rule of encyclopaedic representation of the world that prevailed in the Middle Ages. The map thus presents the characteristics of a nautical chart with a compass rose and rumb lines, but it also compiles in pictorial and textual form all the knowledge of an era, thus mixing travel stories, mythological accounts and Holy Scriptures. A myriad of beings populate this map; real figures in known lands, turning into monsters at the borders of the explored world where they borrow from ancient and medieval bestiaries. The two-tailed mermaid in the middle of the seas or the man-eating giant on the island of Taprobane thus mark the fantastic but dangerous character of the islands of the Indian Ocean.