Corbitis Atlas
The Corbitis Atlas is a late 14th-century atlas of four portolan charts, composed by an anonymous Venetian cartographer, and held by the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, Italy.
Background
The atlas was made by an anonymous Venetian cartographer, possibly by the same author of the Pinelli–Walckenaer Atlas. The Corbitis atlas was once believed to be dated 1368. More recent readings suggest it was made between 1384 and 1410, with possible later emendations.The map has the simple inscription "hec tabula ex testamento dnj nicholaj de cobitis deuenit monasto cart flore", implying the Corbitis atlas must have belonged to a certain Corbizzi family of Florence in the 14th century, and was held by the monastery of Certosa del Galluzzo. The inscription was previously misread as "Combitis", a name by which the atlas is sometimes referred to in older sources.
The Corbitis Atlas is currently held by the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, Italy.
Features
The Corbitis atlas is composed of four portolan charts, each measuring 31 × 19 cm, with each chart covering two folios:- P. 1 – covers the east Mediterranean and Black Sea.
- P. 2 – covers the central Mediterranean
- P. 3 – covers the west Mediterranean and the north Atlantic coast up to the British isles.
- P. 4 – covers the south Atlantic islands and west African coast.
The fourth sheet covers the west African coast down to inbugder and several Atlantic islands, using the same labels found already in earlier charts. As laid out in the Corbitis atlas, the islands are:
- the Azores, laid out vertically from north to south, and named: y de corui marini, liconigi, sco zorzi, y la uentura, li colonbi, y de brazil, caprara and louo.
- the Madeira archipelago, with the names y de legname, porto santo, desertas and further south, y. saluaze.
- the Canary Islands, only the central and eastern clusters are depicted, and include y de rinferno, y de canaria, y de uegi marini, forte uentura, Grazioxa and y de lanzaroto maloxeli.