Claude Ptolémée, Michel Servet, Laurent Fries

Laurent Fries’ version of Ptolemy’s eleventh map of Asia, covering the “southeastern corner” of the known world. The map shows “India beyond the Ganges” and covers the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, prominently showing the Malaysian Peninsula or the Golden Chersonese as the Greeks called it.

Fries’ map is a reduced copy of Waldseemüller’s eleventh Ptolemy map of Asia, with the Malaysian peninsula, the islands of Maniolae (by some identified with Manilla), and the legendary huge sea port of Cattigara, possibly corresponding to Canton. It is furthest places in the Far East that the Greek merchants visited for trading.

This example from the early 1525 Strassburg edition. The woodcut decorations on the back are attributed to Albrecht Dürer, who also made the famous woodcut print of the armillary sphere in this atlas.

Asiae Tabula undecima