Can An Atlas lie?

[Padma]

Actually, IIRC they would almost always just stick in an 'unincorporated village' somewhere. The only ones who would normally notice would be the locals: "Hey, look what Rand-McNally says is sittin' in Farmer Brown's cornfield!"

That's how I first discovered this, BTW. As a youth planning a Boy Scout hike I found a non-existant town on my map. We hiked there just for grins and had a great time doing 'city planning', laying out where streets should go, etc.

 

[knowltok2]

I guess we can all be thankful that you made this discovery in your youth when the journey was more importnat than the destination. Having fellow troop members along as opposed to a wife probably didn't hurt things either.

 

[damunzy]

Originally posted by Padma
Actually, IIRC they would almost always just stick in an 'unincorporated village' somewhere. The only ones who would normally notice would be the locals: "Hey, look what Rand-McNally says is sittin' in Farmer Brown's cornfield!"

I thought they did stuff like that so they could prove that someone was copying their maps. Kind of a way to keep other map companies honest.

 

[Switch625]

Originally posted by Magnus
Russia - Alaska and Fort Ross, California

Denmark - Faroe Islands, Greenland and the Virgin Islands (Danish West Indies)

Brandenburg - forts in West Africa

and who could forget... The Duchy of Courland! who colonized part of Tobago in the 17th century! Here is a link to that juicy little histroical footnote:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Styx/6497/tobago.html

edit: the Courlanders were also busy in Gambia at the same time...
http://www.geocities.com/bcahoon.geo/Gambia.html

Russia also outposted Hawaii in 1809. Here is the reference.