Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1944, Qupperneq 327

REVUE LITTÉRAIRE
287
very meritorious piece of work. But
we must add Norlund’s scientific
investigations of the genesis of the
maps and the connexion between the
various types which in the course
of time have characterized the car-
tographical accounts, and which
have gradually replaced each other,
or which in certain cases appear
simultaneously. The account of this
comprehensive study is written in
such a way that particular qualifi-
cations are not needed to read it,
while scientific demands for accura-
cy and completeness are met.
The cartographic history of Den-
mark is treated in vols. I—IV, the
account proper of the development
both in text and maps being found
in vol. IV, while the three first vo-
lumes are solely dedicated to the
great Danish cartographer Johan-
nes Mejer. The material of maps in
vol. IV in 105 plates contains re-
productions of all essential types of
maps of Denmark from the earliest
Ptolemaic representations from the
14th century and the nearly con-
temporary Italian portolanos.
It then appears that the various
advances in the development of the
map of Denmark must chiefly be
due to the activity of Danish carto-
graphers. The earliest of these is
Claudius Clavus, who, according to
his own statement, was born in the
village of Sallinge in Funen “in
1388 A. D. on the 14th of Septem-
ber, two hours before sunrise.” He
is the earliest cartographer of Scan-
dinavia, his map of Denmark for
more than a century was the basis
of the world’s knowledge of our
country, and he was the first to
draw Greenland on the map of the
world.
It is difficult through his own
works to get even fairly ample in-
formation about Marcus Jordan,
who is known to have sent a map of
Denmark to the University of Co-
penhagen in 1552, but through the
great collections of atlases of the
time, particularly Gerhard Merca-
tor’s atlas of 1595, we may get an
idea of his activity, and Norlund
through a thorough analysis of all
atlases from the 16th century has
shown Marcus Jordan’s decisive im-
portance for the concepts of Den-
mark of that period.
Tycho Brahe’s importance for the
astronomical and geodetic theory
and technique is very thoroughly
discussed. It is a curious fact that
the island of Hven for a number of
years was the most important home
of mathematical and astronomicai
science, and that this was due ex-
clusively to the intellectual wealth
of this one man. N. E. Norlund
through this and former works on
the basis of the stage of knowledge
of the time has documented the
justification of regarding Tycho
Brahe as one of the greatest Danish
scientists of all time.
The reign of Christian IV. (1596—
1648), which in so many ways was
rich and active, also meant im-