Much of the action in the comic strip (and later movies) starring Flash Gordon take place on the fictional planet Mongo. This planet is divided in several realms, such as:
Arboria: a forest principality, governed by prince Barin.
Frigia: a frozen kingdom, ruled over by queen Fria, cousin to Barin.
Coralia: an underwater kingdom beneath the Sea of Mystery, east of Arboria, ruled by queen Undina.
the Land of the Lion Men: also bordering the Sea of Mystery, ruled by king Thun.
the Magnetic Mountains: east of the Land of the Lion Men and current base of operations for Ming, the ousted king of Mongo.
the Sky City of the Hawk Men: north of the Magnetic Mountains, led by king Vultan.
Tropica: a jungle continent directly east of the Sky City, ruled by queen Desira.
the Fire Lands: on the east coast of Tropica, home of Gundar the Desert Hawk.
All these lands and their rulers and peoples figure prominently in the New Adventures of Flash Gordon. Mongo is threatened by Ming, usurper of the throne. In the animated series, Flash Gordon manages to forge a united front against Ming, who is then driven from the throne. This map can be found on this Flash Gordon fan website.
What got me about Flash Gordon was how Dale kept getting injured in falls, and knocked unconscious by explosions, and poisoned, and so forth, necessitating continuous rescuing, but somehow she always made a full recovery within a few minutes and never got her hair mussed or her skimpy little costume dirty. What she went through in a couple weeks on Mongo should have put her in the hospital or crippled her. But noooo.
Comment by July Student — November 5, 2006 @ 10:46 pm
Geekdom is alive and well in cartography
Comment by Catholicgauze — November 7, 2006 @ 12:35 am
Not exploring the Unexplored Continent is all kinds of lazy – it’s right between two Explored Continents! The Hawkmen could do a little aerial recon, at bare minimum.
Comment by extrapolater — November 7, 2006 @ 12:58 am
Fantastic! Thanks for posting this.
Comment by purpleslog — November 7, 2006 @ 3:57 am
[...] Fanatastic Link! [...]
Pingback by Link to Flash Gordon’s planet Mongo « PurpleSlog — November 7, 2006 @ 4:03 am
Incredibly interesting and totally useless blog! I really love it!
Another piece of useless trivia: In Norwegian (Maybe in other languages as well. What about english?), mongo is a derogatory term for people with Down’s syndrome. The word is also sometime used, especially by children, as slang for any stupid or backwards person. Strange name for a planet, don’t you think?
Comment by sungame — November 7, 2006 @ 3:05 pm
Gordon’s Alive!!!
Genuis blog…
Comment by stufforama — November 7, 2006 @ 6:40 pm
Um, your pic is a bit too large for your css layout there. Just sayin’…
Comment by therealdonquixote — November 7, 2006 @ 8:14 pm
Hey, a friend directed me to your blog. I’d just like to say: don’t stop! I really enjoyed what I saw here, and hope to see more. I’m a complete map geek too, so keep it up.
Comment by Polocrunch — November 7, 2006 @ 9:16 pm
Dang… Two crash landings on crazy one planet. How unlucky can one guy get?
Comment by Pete — November 13, 2006 @ 12:30 pm
[...] This is cool: strange maps is a blog about maps (doh), from Britain re-conceived as six new USA states, to the planet Mongo and an upside-down south asia. [...]
Pingback by Distractions — November 15, 2006 @ 1:21 am
sungame: likely the planet was named to suggest the Mongol Hordes rather than mongolism.
Comment by Anton Sherwood — November 19, 2006 @ 10:22 pm
Anton is most likely correct. The original bad-guys in Buck Rogers were also the Mongolians, who had invaded North America some time preceeding Buck’s revival in the 25th Century. It seems kind of silly these days, but pulp-fantasy writers in the Golden Age had a strange fascination with the Mongols.
Comment by Scott BIeser — November 26, 2006 @ 7:51 pm
Quote: Another piece of useless trivia: In Norwegian (Maybe in other languages as well. What about english?), mongo is a derogatory term for people with Down’s syndrome
Well, as recently as forty years ago doctors still called Down’s Syndrome ‘mongoloid idiocy’. They share some facial features with the real mongoloids, like the extra flap of skin above the eyes.
It’s just an old term, not really a insult unless you happen to be asian.
Comment by Random Idiot — November 27, 2006 @ 6:50 pm
The school I teach at: the gym used to be on Mongo street. I kind of thought “Lion Men” was a strange choice of mascot . . . .
OK, the first part’s true.
Comment by bmccosar — November 28, 2006 @ 1:37 am
Wow, I just found your blog and you are my new hero. Such awesomeness. Keep up the good work.
Comment by Some guy — November 28, 2006 @ 7:52 am
[...] En la interesante página Strange Maps, podemos encontrar un mapa de Mongo, el planeta donde transcurren las aventuras de Flash Gordon. Se desconoce el origen o el autor del mapa, que presumiblemente se creó para incluir en algún cómic del personaje, pero es una buena ayuda para situar al aficionado y para seguir las correrías del viejo Flash. Algunas de las localizaciones que podemos encontrar son: [...]
Pingback by Entrecomics » Blog Archive » Mapa de Mongo — November 28, 2006 @ 11:14 am
[...] I love this kind of stuff. Warren Ellis points to a map of Planet Mongo, where Flash Gordon with the Hawkmen for so long toiled. Think fast: catalog and classify this map for inclusion in archives. [...]
Pingback by woodyevans.com » Mongo: mapped — November 28, 2006 @ 2:58 pm
[...] In case you were needing one, here’s a map of planet Mongo, the world of Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon strip. (Link via Warren Ellis.) [...]
Pingback by Journalista » Blog Archive » Nov. 28, 2006: Fun Home deserves the Pulitzer Prize — November 28, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
Hello, i love strangemaps.wordpress.com! Let me in, please :)
Comment by Lusidvicel — December 18, 2006 @ 5:20 pm
Bad designed world. The main continent stretches from North Pole to South pole uninterruptedly, which means this planet cannot be circunavigated. The unexplored continent in the middle of the way between two occupied areas looks silly too.
Comment by Gus — October 7, 2007 @ 3:03 pm
[...] You’ll Never Be Lost on Mongo Again 12.15.06 | View comments merciless cartography [...]
Pingback by Groonk dot Net: Tasty! » You’ll Never Be Lost on Mongo Again — June 30, 2008 @ 8:47 am
thanks.
Comment by hero — October 15, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
thanks alot
Comment by Tony — May 4, 2009 @ 2:21 am
thanks for this map
good
luck
Comment by Solomon — May 11, 2009 @ 7:09 am
merci
Comment by aspicco . — May 17, 2009 @ 4:51 am
teşekkür ederim
Comment by yory — June 12, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
Vielen Dank
Comment by moon — July 3, 2009 @ 3:50 am
Muchas gracias
Comment by sun — July 4, 2009 @ 6:40 am
[...] looking for some Flash Gordon info and came across a map of the planet Mongo at this most click-worthy site, Strange [...]
Pingback by Strange Maps | Notes From the Lizard Lair — November 9, 2009 @ 6:21 pm