“Although I have spoken often of the short distance that lies between here and the Indies, where the spices grow, and the sea route that is shorter than the one you pursue by way of Guinea [...] I know that I am in a position to furnish such proof [...] by providing a sea-chart [...] devised by myself and drawn by my own hand, on which is laid out all the western part of the world [...] From the city of Lisbon in a line directly to the west, there are twenty-six spaces marked on the map, each representing two hundred and fifty miles [ca. 9,000 km] before you arrive at the great and most noble city of Kinsai [Hangzhou] [...]”
Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli to Fernão Martins, June 25, 1474