Martin Behaim

Martin Behaim (October 6, 1459 – July 29, 1507), or Behem, was a navigator and geographer of great pretensions.

Related Topics:
October 6 - 1459 - July 29 - 1507 - Navigator - Geographer

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Behaim was born at Nuremberg, according to one tradition,

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about 1436; according to Ghiilany, as late as 1459. He was drawn to

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Portugal by participation in Flanders trade, and acquired a scientific

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reputation at the court of John II. As a pupil, real or supposed, of the

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astronomer Regiomontanus (i.e. Johann Müller of Königsberg in Franconia)

Related Topics:
Regiomontanus - Franconia

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he became (c. 1480) a member of a council appointed by King John for the

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furtherance of navigation. His alleged introduction of the cross-staff

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into Portugal (an invention described by the Spanish Jew, Levi ben

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Gerson, in the 14th century) is a matter of controversy; his

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improvements in the astrolabe were perhaps limited to the introduction

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of handy brass instruments in place of cumbrous wooden ones; it seems

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likely that he helped to prepare better navigation tables than had yet

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been known in the Peninsula. In 1484-1485 he claimed to have accompanied

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Diogo Cão in his second expedition to West Africa, really undertaken in

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1485-86, reaching Cabo Negro in 15°40 S. and Cabo Ledo still farther

Related Topics:
Cabo Negro - Cabo Ledo

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on. It is now disputed whether Behaims pretensions here deserve any

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belief; and it is suggested that instead of sharing in this great voyage

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of discovery, the Nuremberger only sailed to the nearer coasts of

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Guinea, perhaps as far as the Bight of Benin, and possibly with José

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Visinho the

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