There was a shift away from the circular maps centered on Jerusalem, emphasizing religious subjects, to depictions of the world as it really is. Toscanelli sent Columbus a map of the Americas; Regiomontanus advertised a world map for sale.1 Magellan possessed a world map. Andrea Bianco showed Florida on his Atlantic chart of 1436 (Newberry Library, Chicago); on his 1448 map, he described Brazil. Then, in 1507, Waldseemüller published his amazing world map accurately rendering North and South America. All of these maps had something in common: they accurately depicted parts of the New World before Europeans ever reached those parts. The Waldseemüller showed the Pacific before Magellan set sail, Andrea Bianco showed Florida and Antilia fifty-six years before Columbus; the Cantino planisphere of 1502 depicted the Florida coast before Ponce de León “discovered” the place. There is something else these maps had in common. All are copies in whole or in part of Zheng He’s 1418 map. It was a logical and deliberate policy of Zheng He’s mission to distribute Chinese maps of the world.
