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HomeExploreEducationOld Maps That Got the World Wrong
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On these maps, California breaks away from the mainland and islands appear where there is only open water. Look for the details that make each error legible, from a strip of blue between two coasts to a set of carefully engraved mountains. Some of these maps passed along reports from explorers, while others put legends or educated guesses on paper.

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Images16

1
California Drawn as an Island, Joan Vinckeboons, Around 1650
California Drawn as an Island, Joan Vinckeboons, Around 1650: A watercolor map by Joan Vinckeboons shows a waterway closing…
2
Terra Australis on Abraham Ortelius’s World Map, Around 1570
Terra Australis on Abraham Ortelius’s World Map, Around 1570: Look for the great landmass along the bottom of the oval. In…
3
Rupes Nigra at the North Pole, Gerardus Mercator, 1595
Rupes Nigra at the North Pole, Gerardus Mercator, 1595: Mercator placed the Black Rock directly at the North Pole. Look at…
4
Legendary Peoples on the English Map Psalter, Late 1200s
Legendary Peoples on the English Map Psalter, Late 1200s: Jerusalem sits at the center of this painted world. Near the…
5
Mountains of Kong, James Rennell, 1798
Mountains of Kong, James Rennell, 1798: James Rennell filled part of West Africa with a long mountain range that does not…
6
Frisland on Nicolò Zeno’s Map, 1558
Frisland on Nicolò Zeno’s Map, 1558: Frisland is the big island below Iceland on this map of the North Atlantic. The map…
7
Sandy Island on a British Admiralty Chart, 1908
Sandy Island on a British Admiralty Chart, 1908: Between Australia and New Caledonia, a dotted shape marked Sandy Island…
8
Lake Parime and El Dorado, Jodocus Hondius, 1598
Lake Parime and El Dorado, Jodocus Hondius, 1598: The large inland lake on this map of Guiana is Lake Parime. Jodocus…
9
Ptolemy’s Enclosed Indian Ocean, Ulm Edition, 1482
Ptolemy’s Enclosed Indian Ocean, Ulm Edition, 1482: In this 1482 world map, land runs along the entire bottom of the Indian…
10
Saint Brendan’s Island, Guillaume Delisle, 1707
Saint Brendan’s Island, Guillaume Delisle, 1707: West of the Canary Islands, Guillaume Delisle adds a note about the island…
11
Antillia on the Pizzigano Chart, 1424
Antillia on the Pizzigano Chart, 1424: The bright red rectangle out in the Atlantic is Antillia, with the blue island…
12
An Imagined Northwest Passage, Philippe Buache, 1752
An Imagined Northwest Passage, Philippe Buache, 1752: Philippe Buache’s 1752 engraving shows a water route through North…
13
Korea Drawn as an Island on Luís Teixeira’s Map of Japan
Korea Drawn as an Island on Luís Teixeira’s Map of Japan: The long landmass just west of Japan is labeled Korea and appears…
14
Hy-Brasil on Abraham Ortelius’s Map of Europe
Hy-Brasil on Abraham Ortelius’s Map of Europe: Off the west coast of Ireland, the small island labeled Brasil gives a spot…
15
New Guinea Joined to the Southern Continent, Mercator–Hondius Atlas, 1607
New Guinea Joined to the Southern Continent, Mercator–Hondius Atlas, 1607: Look for New Guinea at the upper edge of the…
16
Crocker Land on Edwin Swift Balch’s Arctic Chart, 1912
Crocker Land on Edwin Swift Balch’s Arctic Chart, 1912: The broken outline at lower left marks Crocker Land, a landmass…

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