Cosmography is the science that
maps the general features of the
universe; describes both
heaven and
Earth (but without encroaching on
geography or
astronomy).
The 13th century book 'Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa-ghara'ib al-mawjudat by Persian physician Zakariya al-Qazwini is considered to be an early work of cosmography.
In 1551.Martin Cortes, from Zaragoza, Spain, published Breve compendio de la esfera y del arte de navegar, translated into English and reprinted several times and of great influence in Britain for many years. He proposed the spherical charts and mentioned the magnetic deviation an existence of magnetic poles.
In 1659, Thomas Porter published a smaller but extensive "Compendious Description of the Whole World" which also included a Chronology of world events from Creation forward. These were all part of a major trend in the European Renaissance to explore (and perhaps comprehend) the known world.
