Asia or Europe? Some lies on where Russia lies. Writing and mapping the Muscovy in the 16th Century

In the European Renaissance cartography the maps of Muscovy are almost always east-oriented, while on the north-up maps some rivers or merchant routes are often represented “upside down”. This reversal, inherited from medieval T-O maps, however, can have a deeper sense. As Edward W. Said wrote, “It is Europe that articulates the Orient; this articulation is the prerogative (…) of a genuine creator, whose life-giving power represents, animates, constitutes the otherwise silent and dangerous space beyond familiar boundaries”. Through an analysis of the most important XVIth century maps of Muscovy – by M. Waldseemüller (1507), B. Agnese (1525), S. von Herberstein (1546), G. Gastaldi (1548), G. Mercator (1585), A. Magini (1596), but above all those by Anton Wied (1555) and Anthony Jenkinson (1562) – we’ll try to trace the West-European orientalizing discourses on Muscovy, aiming to separate the familiar and civilized space of the European œcumene from Asian Muscovy – land of monsters and wolverines.