Welt-Karte zur Übersicht der Luft-Strömungen und der See-Wege
Nineteenth century German cartographers treated the atmosphere like terrain. This 1872 German world map of wind currents and sea routes, drawn for the Gotha Justus Perthes atlas, plots the prevailing air currents across the oceans next to the shipping lanes that lived or died by them, with land cover shading filling in the continents behind.
Justus Perthes of Gotha, the publishing house behind Stieler’s Hand-Atlas, built its reputation on exactly this kind of thematic precision. Every label, legend entry, and route name stays in the original German.
- Full title: Welt-Karte zur Übersicht der Luft-Strömungen und der See-Wege
- Published in 1872 by Justus Perthes, Gotha
- Shows wind currents, established sea routes, and land cover
- German-language place names, legend, and route annotations
- Reproduction printed from a high-resolution scan of the original, digitally restored
- Finishing options include paper, satin lamination, mounting to foam core, and rails or frames in black or walnut molding
A natural fit for maritime history collectors, German language classrooms, yacht club walls, and home offices where a trade-wind map earns its space.

