The World Map of Athanasius Kircher 1665.

A spectacular 1665 map of the world by the German Athanasius Kircher. This is most likely the first world map to
depict the ocean currents. Shows the entire world in accordance with Kircher’s hydro-geographic theory that tides and currents are caused by
water moving to and from a massive subterranean ocean. Kircher postulated that water entered and exited the subterranean ocean via a number
of great abysses situated around the globe. This map expounds on Kircher’s theories by noting the abysses and the currents they create as well
as the locations of the world’s known volcanoes. Between the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and the Persian Gulf, Kircher
theorized massive tunnels and a complex interchange of water flows. These tunnels are noted most particularly between the Black and Caspian
Sea and between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf. Antarctica is shown along the southern part of the map. In the North, a great open
northwest passage is depicted running all the way across the map. It Shows New Guinea and a suggestion of Australia attached to the ‘Australasia
Incognita’ mainland. Africa is shown with considerably greater accuracy than many maps were drawn hundreds of years later –, particularly with regard
to Niger and Nile River Systems. North America and South America are both wildly malformed, indicating a relatively sketchy knowledge of the
continent. Korea is shown as an Island and Japan appears as only a single island.