Donnus Nicolaus Germanus is a path breaking cartographer of the medieval maps. This German cartographer made a lot of contribution in the world of maps. Donnus Nicolaus Germanus is known by various other names like Donnus, Donis, Donus and Donmus. He was born somewhere between 1420 ca and 1490 ca. One of the most important reasons for the popularity of Donnus Nicolaus is his Cosmographia, which is the first work of its kind.
He also created two globes, which give a vivid description of the earth and the sky. The globes were created by him in the year 1477. These two globes predated the ‘Erdapfel’ by Martin Behaim. The two globes created by Donnus Nicolaus Germanus were preserved in Salle Pontifica or Magna Secreta, but they were lost in the Sacco di Roma in the year 1527. At the time of production of the globes, Donnus Nicolaus invented the ‘Donis’ map projection. In this map projection, the parallels of latitude are kept equidistant, while the meridians are made to converge towards both the poles.
