Visual Source: Juan de la Cosa, Mappa mundi (1500)

European Exploration, Perception of the Other, and the Columbian Exchange

What factors contributed to the European interest in exploration?

This world map was the first to include the Americas and used information from Cabot’s journeys to Newfoundland, da Gama’s travels to India, William Weston’s travels on the coast of New England, and Pedro Cabral’s discovery of Brazil. However, none of de la Cosa’s sources had reached Southeast Asia and therefore his map is formless there.

Juan de la Cosa, Mappa mundi

Quiz Content

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. What parts of the map are not drawn in and why is that?

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. Why are the American continents shaped like they are and placed on the edge of the map without western borders?

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. What does this indicate about how Europe understood the new world's borders in 1500?

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