World’s earliest maps at Royal BC Museum

The new season at the Royal BC Museum has just kicked off with an exciting exhibit entitled “Envisioning the World: The First Printed Maps, 1472-1700.”This is an exhibition of thirty rare world maps drawn from the Wendt collection, complemented by a 1696 double-hemisphere map from the BC Archives collection. The exhibition includes the first world map ever printed, a simple woodprint, which illustrates the cumulative history of many of these maps. First drawn around 150 A.D., the map was re-discovered in 6th century Alexandria, Egypt. In the 1450s, when printing technology was developed, this became the world’s first printed map. The optional MP3 audio tour of “Envisioning the World”features short interviews with experts and the character voices of famous contributors to the mapping body of knowledge. The 104-page exhibition catalogue provides detail and is available at the Royal Museum Shop. This exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Sonoma County Museum, CA.”Envisioning the World”will run at the Royal BC Museum until Jan. 27, 2013. (http://www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca)