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Description

Nice example of Mercator's miniature map of the North Polar regions, being a reduced copy of the first separate map of the North Polar Regions.

Gerard Mercator was the first cartographer to create a polar projection of the earth. This map, the first separate map devoted to the Arctic regions, is drawn from an inset on Mercator's world map of 1569. The map is extended to 60 degrees, to incorporate the recent explorations in search of the North West and North East Passages by Frobisher and Davis. The Straits of Anian is clearly shown. The pole itself is no longer made up of four surrounding islands illustrated by Mercator in his large map, which myth had it were separated by four strong flowing rivers. These carried the oceans of the world towards a giant whirlpool at the pole where there stood a large rock. An account of this myth in Mercator's own hand still exists .