Allgemeine Welt-Karte . . . / Carte Generale de L'Univers . . . 1811

• Main Author: Hinrichs, Johann Conrad
• Format: Map
• Language: unknown
• Published: J.C. Hinrichs 1811
• Subjects: North Pole; Alaska
• Online Access: https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~344356~90112333; https://media.davidrumsey.com/MediaManager/srvr?mediafile=/Size4/RUMSEY~8~1/199/15179000.jpg

"Striking, Innovative German World Map -- Projecting The Globe on A Flat Surface Distinctive world map published by German publisher Johann Conrad Hinrichs. It is an unusual azimuthal stereographic projection, which is then split into four lobes -- an attempt to cut the globe into 4 sections and project the image on a flat surface. The map is on a stereographic projection, centered at the North Pole, which continues to just below 40°N latitude. Then the map splits into four lobes containing Australia, Africa, South America, and the Pacific (clockwise from the upper left corner). The map is conformal, meaning it preserves shapes. The lobes help to avoid distortion as the map radiates out from the projection point. The construction of the innovative projection is explained in a series of figures in the four corners of the map. At either top of the map—it rotates so that it can be read in French when one side is up, in German when the other is up—is an explanation. It translates as: This map presents the envelope [surface] of the globe, cut and removed (as in fig 3), then laid flat on a table (as in fig. 4). Its illumination [coloring] presents, 1. the possessions of Great Britain in Europe, Asia, Africa and America in dark red, 2. Of Spain, blue, 3. Of Portugal, yellow orange, 4. Possession and Turkish domination of Europe, Asia and Africa, with the Barbary Kingdoms, in green, 5. Russian possessions in Europe and Asia, yellow. Then in Europe, the French domination, in water color; the Danish possessions, grey; Swedish, red; Prussian, violet; Austrian, red; Sicilian, violet; Sardinian, red. In Asia, Persian, red; Tibet, yellow; China, green. All the other powers, states, nations and independent peoples of Europe, Asia, Africa and America are in brown. The United States of America in yellow. Published in 1811, the map has a few lacunae that jump out to the modern eye. Alaska is unfinished in the far north, as is much of the interior far north of what is today Canada. The great exploratory nineteenth-century ...