Maps point us toward things. Presenting a distilled image of the globe, they help us navigate the world. This section, “Orientations,” prompts us to examine how maps imagine the world and expose the biases of their creators and shed light on early modern worldviews. The first subsection, “Universes,” reveals a primary goal of mapmaking: illustrating the entire cosmos. Unlike contemporary science, early modern cartography presents a unified depiction of Earth and Heaven. This sense of continuity echoes through both pictorial and textual elements of these maps. The second subsection, “Edges,” explores where maps begin and end, creating defined borders in space where none may exist in real life. Ordering lands and waters through newly developed mathematical and scientific tools, maps frame the world from particular points of view, reflecting how people vie for cultural and political power.
