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The manuscript presented here is a two-page fragment of a commentary on the Commedia by the great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). The text, written in Italian by an unknown scribe, was produced in Italy the second half of the 14th century, only a few decades after the poet's death. This was also about the time that the poet Giovanni Boccaccio (1313--75) first applied the epithet "divine" to Dante's poem, which Dante himself had simply called Comedia. This fragment was preserved in the historical library of the Franciscans in Skalica (present-day western Slovakia)...

John Cary (circa 1754-1835) was a leading London engraver, map-, chart- and print-seller, and globe maker, active between 1787 and 1834. This map of 1804 shows the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring parts of Africa and the Middle East. Important caravan routes are marked, including the "route of the grand caravan of Sudan from the Niger to Cairo," "route of the caravan from Batsora [Basra] to Aleppo," "caravan of Darfowar [Darfur] to Mecca by Dongola," "caravan of Sudan directly to Mecca by Suakem," and several other caravan routes to Mecca. Many African ...

This map of the Arabian Peninsula shows international borders, caravan routes, and important cities and towns. British possessions, including the port of Aden and the island of Socotra (ʻAdan and Suquṭrā, both part of present-day Yemen), are indicated by the pink coloring. The old Qatari cities of El Bedaa and Zabara (present-day Al Bida and Al Zabara) are shown. The map appeared as plate 48 in The Imperial Atlas of Modern Geography, published by the Glasgow firm of Blackie & Son in 1859 and reissued in 1860. Founded in 1809 by the Scot John Blackie (1782-1874), by the mid-19th centur...

Gerard Mercator (1512--94) was born in Rupelmonde in Flanders (Belgium). His given name was Gerard de Kremer or Cremer. "Mercator," meaning "merchant," is a Latinized version of his Flemish last name. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Leuven, and developed an interest in astronomy and mathematics. He produced his first map, of Palestine, in 1537. He went on to create numerous maps and globes in the course of his long career and is best known for his invention of the Mercator map projection. In 1554 he moved from Louvain to Duisburg (present-day Germany...

In 1874-75, the Russian government sent a research and trading mission to China to seek out new overland routes to the Chinese market, report on prospects for increased commerce and locations for consulates and factories, and gather information about the Dungan Revolt then raging in parts of western China. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Iulian A. Sosnovskii of the army General Staff, the nine-man mission included a topographer, Captain Matusovskii; a scientific officer, Dr. Pavel Iakovlevich Piasetskii; Chinese and Russian interpreters; three non-commissioned Cossack soldiers; and the mission photo...