We have already alluded to Regiomontanus, as a celebrated mathematician, and as having published the Almagest of Ptolemy.  He seems, likewise, to have written notes on Ptolemy’s Geography.  In 1525, a later translation of Ptolemy was published, which contained these annotations.  To Ptolemy’s maps, tables, &c., are added a new set of maps on wooden plates, according to the new discoveries:  from these we find, that in consequence of the voyages of the Portuguese, the charts of the coasts of Arabia, Africa, Persia, and India, are laid down with tolerable accuracy.  Nothing is noticed regarding China, except that it may be reached by sea from India.  America is called Terra Nova inventa per Christ.  Columbus:  this seems to be all the editor knew of it.  That part of the work which relates to the north of Europe, is most grossly erroneous:  Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Baltic, seem to have been little known.  A great bay is laid down between Greenland and Lapland, which bay is bounded on the north by a ridge of mountains, thus retaining the error of Ptolemy with respect to this part of Europe.  There are two maps of England and Scotland:  in one they are represented as one island; in the other as different islands.  These maps and charts must have been the work of the editor or translator, as Regiomontanus, whose annotations are subjoined, died before the discovery of America.

We have been thus particular in describing the principal maps of this work, as they prove how imperfect geography was, prior to the time of Mercator, and with how much justice it may be said that he is the father of modern geography.  There were, however, some maps of particular countries, drawn up in the sixteenth century with tolerable accuracy, considering the imperfection of those sciences and instruments, by which alone perfect accuracy can be attained.  George Lilly, son of William, the famous grammarian, published, according to Nicholson, (English Historical Library,) “the first exact map that ever was, till then, drawn of this island.”  This praise must, however, be taken with great qualification; for even so late as the beginning of the nineteenth century, the distance from the South Foreland to the Lands-end was laid down, in all the maps of England, half a degree more than it actually is.  We may here remark, that Nicholson represents Thomas Sulmo, a Guernsey man, who died in 1545, as our oldest general geographer.

In some of the MSS. of Harding’s Chronicle, written in the reign of Edward IV., there is a rude map of Scotland.  In 1539, Alexander Lindsey, an excellent navigator and hydrographer, published a chart of Scotland and its isles, drawn up from his own observations, which were made when he accompanied James V. in 1539, on his voyage to the highlands and islands.  This chart is very accurate for the age; and is much superior to that published by Bishop Lesley, with his history, in 1578.

The first map of Russia, known to the other nations of Europe, was published in 1558 by Mr. Anthony Jenkinson, agent to the English Russia Company, from the result of his enquiries and observations during his long residence in that kingdom.