Behaim, MARTIN

Behaim, MARTIN, a famous cosmographer, was born at Nuremberg about 1459. He early entered into mercantile life, and in 1480 went to Portugal, where he soon acquired a reputation as a skilful maker of maps. In 1484 he accompanied the Portuguese navigator, Diego Cam, in a voyage of discovery along the west coast of Africa, and sailed as far as the mouth of the Zaire or Congo River. In 1486 Behaim sailed to Fayal, one of the Azores, but in 1490 he left Fayal and returned to Nuremberg. There he constructed a large globe, principally from the writings of Ptolemy, Pliny, Strabo, Marco Polo, and Sir John Mandeville. It is still preserved by the family of Behaim in Nuremberg, and is a valuable record of the progress of discovery, though it exhibits little accuracy, even for that date. Behaim again resided in Fayal from 1494 to 1506, and then removed to Lisbon, where he died in the same year.—MICHAEL BEHAIM (1416-74) was a German meistersänger, a native of Sülzbach, and by profession a weaver. His poems have been edited by Karajau and others (1843-67).