Abraham Cresques
Abraham Cresques · Exploration & Discovery
Majorcan Jewish cartographer, 'master of maps and compasses' to the Crown of Aragon; author with his son Jehuda of the Catalan Atlas of 1375, the finest world map of the medieval West
1325, Palma, Majorca, Crown of Aragon — 1387, Palma, Majorca
Majorca (Crown of Aragon)
Abraham Cresques is recognized among Jewish contributors to Exploration & Discovery — Majorcan Jewish cartographer, 'master of maps and compasses' to the Crown of Aragon; author with his son Jehuda of the Catalan Atlas of 1375, the finest world map of the medieval West
Abraham Cresques worked in the Jewish quarter of Palma, the centre of the Majorcan school of chart-making, and held the title of 'master of maps and compasses' to the royal house of Aragon. With his son Jehuda he produced the Catalan Atlas of about 1375, six panels combining a portolan chart of the Mediterranean with the interior of Africa and Asia drawn from travellers' reports — the most complete and accurate world picture available in medieval Europe, and a working document rather than a symbolic map.
The Majorcan school he belonged to supplied the charts on which Iberian navigation was built. After the pogroms of 1391 his son was forcibly converted and continued the work under the name Jaume Ribes.
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Source: Wikipedia — Abraham Cresques
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Majorcan Jewish cartographer, 'master of maps and compasses' to the Crown of Aragon; author with his son Jehuda of the Catalan Atlas of 1375, the finest world map of the medieval West
Source: Wikipedia — Abraham Cresques
