56 – The Vinland Map

The Vinland Map was discovered in 1957, bound up with a manuscript of undisputed antiquity, the Historia Tartorum. The map supposedly is a 15th century copy of a 13th century world map, showing the known parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as an unknown land across the Atlantic Ocean labelled Vinland. The map also mentions that Vinland was visited in the 11th century.

This corresponds well with a tradition in Viking folklore that Norsemen, using Iceland and Greenland as stepping stones, had a more or less regular contact with North America. According to some Icelandic sagas, North America was sighted in about 986 by Bjarni Herjolfsson, who was blown off course on a trip from Iceland to Greenland. His stories lured Leif Eiriksson on an expedition in the year 1000, on which he named (north to south):

55 – A Tourist Map of Gotham

Most people know that Batman lives in Gotham City, and that this fictional place is a barely disguised version of New York City – so much so that in real life, NYC is sometimes nicknamed Gotham. Here’s a few lesser known facts about Batman’s home town:

54 – Tarzan and the Lost Empire

Published in 1912, Tarzan of the Apes was the first of 24 adventure books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs featuring the son of a British lord and lady raised by Great Apes in Africa. The protagonist’s English name is John Clayton, his title Lord Greystoke – but he’s better known by is ape-name Tarzan (‘Whiteskin’). Tarzan meets and falls in love with the American Jane, whom he leaves the jungle for. They marry, live in England, raise a son Jack (ape-name: Korak) and eventually return to Africa to escape the hypocrisy of civilisation.In Burroughs’ 12^th Tarzan book, Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928), the ape-man comes across a lost Roman province located in a secluded canyon on the African coast. This map is taken from the back of that book. It shows the canyon, and describes some features of the province in elementary Latin:

53 – Ever been gerrymandered?

The painter Gilbert Stuart was inspired by the awkward shape of an electoral district on a map he saw in a newpaper editor’s office. He decorated the snake-shaped district with a head, a set of wings and claws, making it out to be some kind of antediluvian monster.
“That will do for a salamander,” he said to the editor.
“Gerrymander!”, replied he to Stuart.

52 – The Enclaves and Counter-enclaves of Baarle (B/NL)

One of the unlikeliest complexes of enclaves and exclaves in the world is to be found on the Belgian-Dutch border, and is centred on Baarle. This town, while surrounded entirely by Dutch territory, consists of two separate administrative units, one of which is the Dutch commune of Baarle-Nassau, the other being the Belgian commune of Baarle-Hertog.For an exhaustive history, please visit this page of the Buffalo Ontology Site.

That same story, more succinctly: here… 

51 – A Colour Map of Utopia

“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at”, said Oscar Wilde (in his 1891 essay ‘The Soul of Man Under Socialism’), so I suppose this blog can’t do without one either.

‘Utopia’ is a Greek neologism invented by the author of the eponymous satire, Thomas More, and can be translated as ‘Nowhere’. Its perfect (but fictitious) society was meant to contrast with, and consequently be a criticism of, contemporary society in early 16th century Europe.

50 – “Germany Must Die”

I’m on a bit of a roll here, as far as strange World War II maps are concerned. Here’s another one, again from the German side, found at this page of the website of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI. This map is entitled “Deutschland muss sterben” (‘Germany Must Die’), in lettering reminiscent of Hebrew script (implying of course that the Jews are behind this plan).

49 – Czechoslovakia Threatens Germany (1934)

Another propaganda map dating from just before World War II, but this time from the Nazi-German side. One of the first victims of fascist agression was Czechoslovakia, dismembered at the Munich Conference in 1938 (when Sudetenland was ceded to Germany) and shortly thereafter occupied anyway (contrary to the deal at Munich).

48 – Nazi War Aims

A British map, I presume, made between 1937 and 1940, showing the German plans for the conquest of Europe “revealed by Secret Nazi Map” – I don’t know if that isn’t a bit of British propaganda, or if there actually was such a map.

In fact, this map, whether or not derivative of that supposed secret map, is quite accurate in the scope of the German conquest, especially in the Latin countries (with ambitions towards Portugal and Northern Spain perhaps a bit too, well, ambitious, but with the occupation of France predicted rather well: the territory occupied by the Vichy régime is about right).

47 – The Lost Continent of Mu

A Pacific counterpart to Atlantis, Mu is supposed to have been a large continent in the middle of the ocean and the home of an advanced civilisation, having sunk beneath the waves many thousands of years ago. The civilisation of Mu is said to have influenced both the Chinese and the native American civilisations, and created the mysterious statues on Easter Island. There’s little to no scientific evidence for this theory, which can be classified as a myth of the ‘wishful thinking’ school.

46 – How Big Is Jutland?

Although you probably instantly recognise its shape on a map, you may be forgiven for never having heard of Jutland. This northern European peninsula is not an independent entitiy: it’s divided between Denmark, which occupies the northern two thirds of what Danes call Jylland, and Germany in the south of Jütland.

45 – Tatooine, Luke Skywalker’s Home Planet

Tatooine is a (fictional) desert planet in the Star Wars saga, circling two suns and circled by three moons and home to the Skywalker family. The planet is one of the most iconic of the saga, mentioned in all six movies so far. Tatooine harbors about 200.000 inhabitants, and was for a long time controlled by Jabba, a member of the criminal race of Hutts.

44 – The World According to Dubya

Post #38 of this blog showed a spoof map of the world, supposedly according to Ronald Reagan – the avuncular 40th President of the US, an icon of conservatism to some, a prime example of cluelessness to others (including those who made the map).

I’m old enough to remember that map when it was topical, and remarked in the post that I hadn’t seen any similar parody maps, updated to correspond to the world view of George W. (‘Dubya’) Bush, a president similarly considered to be ultraconservative and/or not so bright.

43 – Dreaming of Deseret

In 1849, the Mormons who had recently settled the Wild West near the Great Salt Lake, ‘proposed’ the state of Deseret. It’s not clear to me whether this ‘proposal’ equalled a ‘proclamation’ in their minds. It is clear however that the United States never recognised the State of Deseret during the 2 year period it was administered by the Mormons – although this was the very goal for which they had wished to set up Deseret.