Pedro de Medina facts for kids
Pedro de Medina (born in 1493, died in Seville in 1567) was an important Spanish cartographer and writer. He wrote books about how to navigate ships. His most famous book, Arte de navegar (which means "The Art of Navigation"), was published in 1545. It was the first book in Spain that focused only on how to navigate at sea.
Contents
Who Was Pedro de Medina?
Pedro de Medina was likely born in Seville, a city in Spain. When he was young, around 1520, he became a teacher for Juan Claros Pérez de Guzmán y Aragón. This person was the son of a powerful noble family, the Dukes of Medina Sidonia.
Starting His Career
After working with the Medina Sidonia family, Pedro de Medina wanted to be known as a cosmographer. A cosmographer is someone who studies the universe and how to map the Earth. In 1538, he wrote a book called Libro de Cosmografía ("Book of Cosmography").
He was given official permission to create navigation maps, write books for ship pilots, and make tools for trips to the West Indies (the Americas). In 1539, he became an examiner in Seville. This meant he tested navigators and ship captains before they sailed to the Americas.
Medina worked closely with the "House of Trade" (Casa de Contratación). This was a Spanish government office that managed exploration and colonization of the New World. He noticed that navigators weren't always trained well, and their tools, books, and maps had problems. He wrote to King Charles I of Spain about these issues. This led to a royal order in 1545 that stopped another mapmaker, Diego Gutiérrez, from making maps and tools that Medina said were harmful to students.
In 1545, Medina published his most important book, Arte de navegar ("The Art of Navigation"). It had eight parts and was dedicated to the future King Philip II of Spain. This book was a summary of all the navigation knowledge at the time. It was the first detailed book on navigation published in Spain.
Other writers helped Medina with parts of the book, and he also got help from Francisco Faleiro and Alonso de Santa Cruz. Arte de navegar became very popular around the world. It was translated into French many times, and also into Dutch, Italian, and English. This book greatly helped sailors learn how to navigate on the open ocean.
Later Years and Other Works
In 1549, Medina was named an honorary royal cosmographer. He later published a shorter version of Arte de navegar in 1552, called Regimiento de navegación ("The Control of Navigation"). This version left out the complex math and only included what sailors really needed to know. A later edition in 1563 added twenty helpful "warnings" for practical navigation.
Medina believed in the old system of the universe by Ptolemy, where the Earth was the center. He didn't believe in magnetic declination (how a compass needle points slightly away from true north), even though many other experts did.
He also advised the Spanish government in 1554 and 1556. They met to figure out the exact location of the Philippines and the Moluccas (Spice Islands). This was important for deciding which parts of the world belonged to Spain and which to Portugal. Today, Mount Medina in Antarctica is named after him!
Other Books by Pedro de Medina
Medina also wrote books about history and philosophy. In 1548, he published Libro de las grandezas y cosas memorables de España ("Book of the Great Deeds and Memorable Things of Spain"). This book talked about important historical events and towns in Spain. It included pictures and copies of important documents.
His other works include Libro de la verdad ("Book of Truth", 1555), and his last work, Crónica de los excelentes señores duques Medina Sidonia ("Chronicle of the Excellent Ducal Lords of Medina Sidonia", 1561).
List of His Works
- Libro de Cosmografía (1538)
- Arte de navegar (1545)
- Libro de las grandezas y cosas memorables de España (1548)
- Crónica de España (1548)
- Libro de la verdad (1555)
- Regimiento de navegación, en que se contienen las reglas, declaraciones y avisos del libro dArte de navegar (1552)
- Suma de Cosmographia (unpublished manuscript, 1561)
- Hispaniae Tabula Geographica (1560)
- Crónica de los excelentes señores duques Medina Sidonia (1561)
- Regimiento de navegación compuesto por el maestro Pedro de Medina. Contiene las cosas que los pilotos han de saber para bien navegar: y los remedios y avisos que han de tener para los peligros que navegando les pueden suceder (1563)
See also
In Spanish: Pedro de Medina para niños
