Our Oldest Maps May Not Be Our Wisest Maps... New to the gallery is this very rare mid-16th century coloured print of the Island of Sumatra (Fig 1.), referred to in the title but named Taprobana on the map, a name often given to the island of Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka and frequently confused with the Island of Sumatra in 16th and 17th century cartography. This map, which is a wood cut, was published by the German geographer, cartographer and theologian, Sebastian Munster (1488-1552) in his first edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia (Geographia universalis, vetus et nova, compectens Clavdii Ptolemaei Alexandrini enarrationis libros VIII …) in 1540 which makes this map the oldest in Bartele Gallery at 470 years of age. Geographia contains 27 maps of the old Ptolemaic canon and are supplemented by 21 new maps drawn by Munster, including the map of Sumatra/Taprobana, supposedly reflecting new geographical knowledge. The name, shape and position of the island in the Indian Ocean is in fact derived from an earlier world map derived from Claudius Ptolemy contained in a 15th century (pre-1470) manuscript volume (Codex La. V F.32 in the National Library Naples) and illustrated in Fig. 3 on the following page. Bartele Gallery Kantor Taman E3.3 Unit A1 4th Floor (Via Cazbar) Jl. Mega Kuningan Jakarta, Indonesia Tel: +62 21 5764575 Fax: +62 21 5764576 Email: [email protected] (Fig 1.) Sumatra ein groffe Insel fo von den alten Geographen Taprobana... Modern colour; very good condition; measures 250 x 339 mm.