Atlas maritimus or, the sea-atlas : being a book of maratime (sic) charts describing the coasts, capes, headlands, sands, shoals, rocks and dangers, the bays, roads, harbours, rivers, and ports in most of the known parts of the world : with the true course and distances from one place to anot., gathered from the latest discoveries that hath been made, by divers[e], able and experienced navigators of our English nation, accommodated with an hidrographical (sic) description of the whole world &c. /

The word portolan comes from the Italian adjective portolano, meaning "related to ports or harbors", or "a collection of sailing directions". Portolan charts are maps based on compass directions and estimated distances observed by the pilots at sea. They were first made in the 13th century in Italy, and later in Spain and Portugal where they considered to be state secrets. The English and Dutch found the description of Atlantic and Indian coastlines extremely valuable for their raiding, and later trading, ships. The oldest survived portolan is the Carta Pisana, dating from approximately 1296 and the oldest preserved Majorcan Portolan chart is the one made by Angelino Dulcert who produced a portolan in 1339.