Edward Wright (1558?-1615 was a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University who improved Mercator's projection and published his results, The Correction of Certain Errors in Navigation, in 1599. He included mathematical tables and instructions on plotting straight-line courses on Mercator's projection.
     Wright published "A Chart of the World on Mercator's Projection" in 1600. The chart was based on an earlier chart engraved by the English globe maker Emery Molyneux in 1592. The map was designated the "Wright-Molyneux Map." The map is alluded to in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Maria says of Malvolio: “He does smile his face into more lynes, than is in the new Mappe, with the augmentation of the Indies” in reference to this map.
     The map on the stamp is derived from the chart published by Wright and Molyneux in 1600. The routes of Columbus' four voyages in the West Indies are traced on the stamp.