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Henricus Martellus, a German cartographer working in Florence in the late 15th century, produced a highly detailed map of the known world. According to experts, there is strong evidence that Christopher Columbus studied this map and that it influenced his thinking before his fateful voyage. Martellus' map arrived at Yale in 1962, the gift of an anonymous donor. Scholars at the time hailed the map's importance and argued that it could provide a missing link to the cartographic record at the dawn of the Age of Discovery. However, five centuries of fading and scuffing had rendered much of the map's...

In 1491, German cartographer Henricus Martellus created a map of the world that would help Christopher Columbus navigate the Atlantic. Today, the map holds secrets about what Europeans in the 15th Century knew about geography. But unfortunately much of its historic text has faded. But now a team of researchers in the US is using a technique called multispectral imaging to uncover the hidden information that Columbus had at his fingertips. In 1491, cartographer Henricus Martellus created a map of the world that would help Christopher Columbus navigate the Atlantic. Today, it holds secrets into what 15th Century Europeans knew...