The only map to aid Vasco and other explorers was an Ancient Greek world map, Ptolemy’s Geographia, a copy of which was rediscovered around this time. It was remarkable in what it got right, including Iceland, Sri Lanka and the Canary Islands. It also showed that Africa could be sailed around, which the Portuguese re-discovered.
A century of exploration led to a new world map, one that could be printed.
Till this point Christians had seen Jerusalem as the centre of the world, a new mental change was the emergence of the notion of being European, rather than Christian. Assumptions and beliefs were contested and Europeans now thought themselves the centre of the world. The discovery of the Americas made for further adjustments that saw maps that would be familiar today.
By 1625 an English writer was identifying European values as Christian and Christians who lived elsewhere were no longer important.
I have been reading The Triumph of the West by J.M. Roberts.
Terry Case