Map · Latin

Borgia world map (engraved on metal), Vatican Museums inv. 70163

Mappa mundi detta borgiana / Planisfero Borgia

Anonymous (south German?, mid-15th century); named for Cardinal Stefano Borgia

How we know

compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.

Compilation of medieval legends (Gog and Magog, Alexander), Tartar and Timurid-era reports; no observation.

Research notes

Anonymous; DigiVatLib returned 404 for Borg.XVI shelfmark forms because the object now belongs to the Vatican Museums (inv. 70163), not the library. Legends derive from Mandeville-type and crusade-era sources.
Sampled through the Museo Galileo 'Il mappamondo di Fra Mauro' online exhibition (2021-2025), which serves zoomify tile pyramids of comparison maps by concession of the holding libraries (site states further reproduction forbidden). Tile base: mostre.museogalileo.it/images/framauro/05_mapp…; tiles at TileGroupN/level-col-row.jpg.

Why it matters

One of the earliest maps to carry an explicit 'Tartaria' regional label with an explanatory legend and pictures of Tartar wagon-camps; also juxtaposes Gog/Magog with the Tartars, documenting the medieval equation the later literature inherited.

Places named

Whole known world, south at top; Tartaria; Cathay; Gog and Magog; Albania magna; Amazons; Europe; Africa

Who copied whom

No copying traced for this map yet. See the family trees.