East of the Urals

Marco Polo had made extensive travels into the Russian world east of the Ural Mountains and Ptolemy incorporated them into his world map. Waldseemuller also drew heavily from the known information regarding rivers, mountains and cities in this distant region of the world.

South of the Mare Glaciale (Arctic Sea) and the Tropic of Cancer lies the northern coast of Asia. The Ural Mountains are depicted as an obvious barrier between the Tartars who inhabit the land to the west and the Scithians who reside to the east.

The Ganges River is clearly marked flowing south from the Himalayas into India and it is obvious that there is much knowledge about this region of the world as well.

India was a major supplier of spices to European homes by this time and it became necessary to find a new route way to India to maintain the supply.

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