Classic Mediaeval Antique World Map by Oronce Fine Postcard

Oronce Fine, 1531, Noua, et Integra Uniuersi Orbis Descriptio interesting double hemisphere with polar projections Oronce Fine (or Finé in Latin, Orontius Finnaeus or Finaeus; Italian: Oronzio Fineo) (December 20, 1494-August 8, 1555) was a French mathematician and cartographer. Fine attempted to reconcile discoveries in the New World with old mediaeval legends and information (derived from Ptolemy) regarding the Orient. Thus, on one of his two world maps, Nova Universi Orbis Descriptio (1531), the legend marked Asia covers both North America and Asia, which were represented as one landmass. He used the toponym "America" for South America, and thus Marco Polo's Mangi, Tangut, and Catay appear on the shores of the present-day Gulf of Mexico. On the same map, Fine drew Terra Australis to the south, including the legend "recently discovered but not yet completely explored," by which Finé meant the discovery of Tierra del Fuego by Ferdinand Magellan.