The British Library, London.

Signed by Grazioso Benincasa and dated 1470, this chart shows how chartmakers easily incorporated Atlantic coastlines into a chart. The chartmaker drew the Atlantic coastlines, and added their toponyms, in the same way as he entered those of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. There are only a few illuminations: a  cityscape depicts Venice, a compass rose appears in Turkey, and two half compass roses appear at the top and bottom of the chart. Near these half roses, the scale is incorporated into the border of the chart.

Seventy years earlier, Franciscus Becharius’s Portolan chart of the Mediterranean Sea, the North Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea, and the northwestern African coast has more illuminations, but it too shows the seamless integration of Atlantic coastlines with those of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Also known as Beccaria, Becario, Becaria, Becaro, and Becaa, this chartmaker had the title of “mestre de cartes de navegar” (master chartmaker). Several cityscapes appear on the chart, with Genoa being the most prominent and the most beautiful. A meridian appears in the Atlantic that shows degrees of latitude from approximately 28°N (Lanzarote Island of the Canary Islands) to 55°N (Northern Ireland).