
Mappa Mundi – A map that survived 700 years [video] - pseudolus
https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p074n6qg/the-curious-map-that-survived-700-years
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the_rosentotter
The actual map:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Hereford...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Hereford-
Karte.jpg)

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LeifCarrotson
This image helped me understand it:

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Orthogra...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Orthographic_T%26O.png)

It's a hemisphere centered on Jerusalem, with North to the left. "ROMA" is
across the Med to the left of the labyrinth just below center. At top right,
it's easy to identify the Persian gulf and Red Sea; it appears that Somalia is
disconnected from the African continent and infested with Dracones. At bottom
left are the British isles, you can see "LONDONIA" just up the Thames, across
the English channel from the Seine which flows from the cathedral representing
Paris.

The circular outside edge represents the oceans, compressed to a narrow band
of shoreline - the Atlantic at the bottom, Arctic at the left, Pacific at top,
Indian at the right. There's some discussion as to whether the round world was
assumed to be spherical or disc-shaped, with most historians assuming that it
was believed to be spherical and that the oceans were simply connected on the
'back' of the map (where the Americas would be).

It's an interesting projection, expanding some areas to give detail based on
religious importance and familiarity more than absolute geographical size.

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hencq
An absolutely terrific book about (among other things) this is The Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin. He goes into a lot of detail on how map making in
Europe for the longest time was driven, as you say, more by religious
importance than anything else. Interestingly when Europeans did get more
serious about accurate maps this was for a large part driven by the search for
the fabled Prester John, a Christian king thought to be ruling in India or
Africa.

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cptroot
For another take on Mappa Mundi I like this Map Men video:
[https://youtu.be/XxYecjWUkJw](https://youtu.be/XxYecjWUkJw)

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lqet
I wonder how theme park maps [0] will be perceived in 700 years.

[0] [https://www.freizeitpark-
welt.de/freizeitparks/europa_park/f...](https://www.freizeitpark-
welt.de/freizeitparks/europa_park/fotos/parkmap/2017.jpg)

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edgarvaldes
Why are maps so comfy as an object in itself?

