Power politics: maps from the British Library

The Fra Mauro world map (1450). The Venetian senate commissioned this map from the monk Fra Mauro, probably for display in the Doge’s palace. It presented a radically new world image, but the Doge criticised it for not exaggerating the size of Venice. Instead, most of Asia on the left side of the map (presented upside down) is depicted according to the writings of the Venetian Marco Polo