A new Portolan chart available to study

A recently rediscovered Portolan Chart is now able to be studied by scholars. The Portolan Chart here mentioned was kept at the Archives Départementales de Vaucluse in Brussels since 2002, at the time discovered by a local amateur intrigued by the drawings and colors on this chart. The chart has been unstudied ever since its rediscover by Paul Fermon in 2015, which was working on his thesis "Le peintre et la carte. Les représentations des espaces locaux dans les documents juridiques et iconographiques entre Alpes et Rhône, du début du XIVe au début du XVIe siècle". Because Fermon´s lack of expertise on the Nautical Charts, he asked Tony Campbell and Josep Pujades which estimate the approximate date of 1302 for its birth, given the drawings, construction and place names on the chart.

An initial study by Paul Fermon was already made, soon be released in the collection Terrarum Orbis - Brepols publishers, inscribing this chart in the 13th century period. With this rediscovery intriguing questions remain to be answered but also new insights on this and other Portolan Charts may form.

Check the original article on this discovery, with particularities anddetailed descriptions of the chart.