Martin Behaim (October 6, 1459 – July 29, 1507), or Behem, was a navigator and geographer of great pretensions. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in Leap years). ... Events September 23 - Battle of Blore Heath. ... July 29 is the 210th day (211th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 155 days remaining. ... 1507 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A navigator is the person onboard a ship responsible for the navigation of the vessel. ... A geographer is a crazy psycho whose area of study is geocrap, the pseudoscientific study of Earths physical environment and human habitat and the study of boring students to death. ...

Behaim was born at Nuremberg, according to one tradition, about 1436; according to Ghillany, as late as 1459 and was supposedly of Bohemian origin. He was drawn to Portugal by participation in Flanders trade, and acquired a scientific reputation at the court of John II of Portugal. As a pupil, real or supposed, of the astronomer Regiomontanus (i.e., Johann Müller of Königsberg in Franconia) he became (c. 1480) a member of a council appointed by King John for the furtherance of navigation. His alleged introduction of the cross-staff into Portugal (an invention described by the Spanish Jew, Levi ben Gerson, in the 14th century) is a matter of controversy; his improvements in the astrolabe were perhaps limited to the introduction of handy brass instruments in place of cumbrous wooden ones; it seems likely that he helped to prepare better navigation tables than had yet been known in the Peninsula. From 1484-1485 he claimed to have accompanied Diogo Cão in his second expedition to West Africa, really undertaken in 1485-86, reaching Cabo Negro in 15°40 S. and Cabo Ledo still farther on. It is now disputed whether Behaim's pretensions here deserve any belief; and it is suggested that instead of sharing in this great voyage of discovery, the Nuremberger only sailed to the nearer coasts of Guinea, perhaps as far as the Bight of Benin, and possibly with José Visinho the astronomer and with Joao Affonso d'Aveiro, in 1484-86. Martin's later history, as traditionally recorded, was as follows: on his return from his West African exploration to Lisbon he was knighted by King John, who afterwards employed him in various capacities; but, from the time of his marriage in 1486, he usually resided at Fayal in the Azores, where his father-in-law, Jobst van Huerter, was governor of a Flemish colony. On a visit to his native city in 1492, he constructed his famous terrestrial globe, still preserved in Nuremberg, and often reproduced, in which the influence of Ptolemy is strongly apparent, but wherein some attempt is also made to incorporate the discoveries of the later Middle Ages (Marco Polo, etc.). The antiquity of this globe and the year of its execution, on the eve of the discovery of Americas, are noteworthy; but as a scientific work it is unimportant, ranking far below the portolani charts of the 14th century. Its West Africa is marvellously incorrect; the Cape Verde archipelago lies hundreds of miles out of its proper place; and the Atlantic is filled with fabulous islands. Blunders of 16° are found in the localization of places the author claims to have visited: contemporary maps, at least in regard to continental features, seldom went wrong beyond 1°. It is generally agreed that Behaim had no share in transatlantic discovery; and though Columbus and he were apparently in Portugal at the same time, no connection between the two has been established. He died at Lisbon in 1507. Hl. ... Flanders (Flemish, Fleming) (Dutch: Vlaanderen (Vlaams, Vlaming)) has-diddley two-diddley main-diddley designations-diddley: a-diddley geographical-diddley region-diddley in-diddley-diddley-diddley the-diddley north-diddley of-diddley Belgium-diddley, corresponding-diddley to-diddley the-diddley Flemish Region, a-diddley consituent-diddley part-diddley of-diddley the... John II of Portugal João II of Portugal (Portuguese pron. ... Johannes Müller von Königsberg (June 6, 1436 – July 6, 1476), known by his Latin pseudonym Regiomontanus, was an important German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer. ... Former German name of the city of Kaliningrad. ... The Franconian Rake is originally is a heraldic symbol of the bishops of Würzburg, who - though nominally Dukes of Franconia - only ruled in parts of Franconia. ... There are several traditions of navigation. ... Levi ben Gerson (1288-1344)wrote Book of Numbers in 1321 dealing with arithmetical operations, including extraction of roots. ... This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... A 16th century astrolabe. ... The pillar bearing the arms of Portugal erected by Cão at Cape St. ...  Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... Hl. ... The Bight of Benin is a bay on the western African coast that extends eastward for about 400 miles (640 km) from Cape St. ... District Lisbon Mayor   - Party Carmona Rodrigues PSD Area 84. ... Faial Island (also known in English as Fayal) is a Portuguese island of the Central group (Grupo Central) of the Azores. ... Location Motto of the autonomous region: Antes morrer livres que em paz sujeitos (Portuguese: To die free rather than to be subjugated in peace) Official language Portuguese Capitals Ponta Delgada (Presidency of the autonomous government), Angra do Heroísmo (Supreme Court), Horta (Legislative Assembly) Other towns Praia da Vitória... A globe This article is on a planet model. ... Claudius Ptolemaeus, given contemporary German styling, in a 16th century engraved book frontispiece. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Marco Polo (September 15, 1254, Venice, Italy; or Curzola, Venetian Dalmatia - now Korčula, Croatia — January 8, 1324, Venice) was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he... World map showing the Americas The Americas commonly refers to the landmass in the Western Hemisphere consisting of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands. ... A portolan is an early modern European navigation chart, dating from the fourteenth century or later, in manuscript, usually with rhumb lines, shorelines and place names. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one_fifth of its surface. ... Christopher Columbus (1451? – 20 May 1506) was an explorer and trader who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Americas on October 12, 1492 under the flag of Castile. ...

See C. G. von Murr, Diplomatische Geschichte des beruhmten Ritters Behaim (1778); A. von Humboldt, Kritische Untersuchungen (1836); F. W. Ghillany, Geschichte des Seefahrers Martin Behaim (1853); O. Peschel, Geschichte der Erdkunde, 214-215, 226, 251, and Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, esp. p. 90; Breusing, Zur Geschichte der Geographie (1869); Eugen Gelcich in the Mittheilungen of the Vienna Geographical Society, vol. xxxvi. pp. 100, etc.; E. G. Ravenstein, Martin de Bohemia, (Lisbon, 1900), Martin Behaim, His Life and His Globe (London, 1909), and "Voyages of Diogo Cao and Bartholomeu Dias", 1482-1488, in Geographical Journal, Dec. 1900; see also Geog. Journal, Aug. 1893, p. 175, Nov. 1901, p. 509; Jules Mees in Bull. Soc. Geog., Antwerp, 1902, pp. 182-204; A. Ferreira de Serpa in Bull. Soc. Geog., Lisbon, 1904, pp. 297-307.

References

• This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain.