Can you identify what these world maps represent?

[Elta]

got the centuary right! Its cool how the chinese could find america.

Yeah they were major world players for a while, till they ended up with a few xenophbic leaders.

IMO Rome and Various Han dynastys were the greatest nations of the 1000 b.c. - 1000 a.d. eras.

 

[Lotus49]

Here's three more to gaze upon with wonder. You'll probably only get the third one if you cheat and go look it up somewhere. Or, maybe you're an expert, who knows...

Spoiler :

Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

All I did was remove the legends.



Edit:
The answers

Spoiler ANSWER for map 1 :

Map1: Human language families - click for legend

Spoiler ANSWER for map 2 :

Map2: Legality of cannabis by country - click for legend

Spoiler ANSWER for map 3 :

Map3: Original distribution of wolf subspecies

 

[Elta]

The canibis one has to be way off. I've seen a few people get craked over the dome piece with a night stick over some weed in Mexico a few times. .... allthou if you are under 21 you are liable to get cracked in the head by a federal cop for just about anything over there

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

The first is language families, don't even need to see the spoiler.

 

[Mise]

M1

Spoiler :

Clearly it's depicting a classical view of the world, but I'd say it was made much later, in the 15th century perhaps.

(I could sooooo blag the antiques roadshow.)

 

[Rambuchan]

You are right on what is being depicted in M1 Mise. But you're quite a few centuries late on when it was made (obviously it is a modern copy, and that's not as revealing as when the original was made).

 

[Brighteye]

M1 was made in 1908, give or take a century.

 

[Rambuchan]

Steph: You are right about the purpose of Bismarck's Conference. I'm getting rusty!

Anyway, I think it would be much easier if I just followed Lotus49's approach and gave the answers in a spoiler. Click here to refer to the historical maps again.

Spoiler :

M1 - Cosmas Indicopleustes' world picture, 6th century
M2 – British Empire 1882
M3 - Cosmas Indicopleutes, 6th century (M3 is simply another representation of what is depicted in M1)
M4 - Fra Mauro's world map, 1459
M5 - Map of Nansenbushu (Jambu-dviipa) dating from the late Edo period ie. 19th century. (It's a Buddhist 'map', depicting much of Asia, with the red routes being the paths trodden by noted Buddhist pilgrims. The focal point on Mount Kailash, where a whirlpool can be seen, is in the centre of the forehead of the overall 'head shape' and this mountain is of special religious significance to Hindus and Buddhists alike. This map is more an aid to contemplation and meditation than a geographical representation.)
M6 - Al Idrissi’s Map for the Norman King Roger II in Palermo , Sicily : – c12th original, reprinted 1456
M7 – The world according to Homer, 8th to 7th century BC

 

[Steph]

M2 – British Empire 1882

The UK occupied Egypt in 1882 IIRC. As Egypt is not red in the map, I thought the map was before 1880.

Cool! I was very close.
After the British seize South Africa Boer's territory in 1877, and just before they occupied Egypt in 1882.

 

[Rambuchan]

Yes Steph, well done.

Sorry, I just love that smiley.

When I get a freer moment, I'll load up the other seven historical maps I gathered.

 

[Steph]

Yes Steph, well done.

We need a "Petit Scarabée" (aka Grasshoper) smiley

 

[Rambuchan]

Agreed!

Anyway, here are another seven historical maps to feast your eyes on and to tickle your brains with. I'll release their dates and other details a bit later on.

M8


M9


M10


M11


M12


M13


M14

 

[Steph]

Spoiler :

Are you really sure ?

Spoiler :

You know, it's kind of cheating

Spoiler :

Well, it's more than a kind of, it is cheating

Spoiler :

M-8 "Manuslyaloka" (The World of Man) ~ Jain Chart of The World, c15th.

M-10 Babylonian clay tablets dating from around 600 BC

M-11 Opicinus de Canistris world map, 1296 - 1300

M-12 The Beatus Map, a Christian map from Mozarabic Spain, 776AD, copied and reprinted in 1109

M-13 Psalter Map: c1250. Original size 6” x 4” and printed alongside a 13th century copy of The Book of Psalms.

 

[aaglo]

M8
Map of Atlantis, ca. 1463

M9
Map of Mediterranean, north is in the left (and thus the africa is on the right), ca. 895

M10
Map of Mesopotamia, ca. 1400 BC

M11
Map of Mediterranean, ca. 1460

M12
No idea. Nile? ca. 600?

M13
It has the same red sea as in M9, so it must be the mediterraneans again, ca. 750

M14
World map ca. 1682

 

[Rambuchan]

Steph:

Spoiler :

Cheating, you say?

Spoiler :

Yes, I'll say so.

Spoiler :

You bloody cheat you!

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

That's another smiley I've been dying to use.

aaglo: Answers and feedback next to your guesses...

M8
Map of Atlantis, ca. 1463 ~ Nope, it's a map of the world. In the religious sense of map making that is, much like the Japanese map in the previous seven demonstrated and as many of the others in this group demonstrates from a Christian perspective. But you did get the right century. It's from the 1400s. Where is this map from though?

M9
Map of Mediterranean, north is in the left (and thus the africa is on the right), ca. 895 ~ Yes, it's the Mediterranean. The date you've gone for is wrong though. You're a couple of hundred years off. As with many maps right up to the 1500s, the world was often depicted with East at top. Anyone want to guess why East was often at top?

M10
Map of Mesopotamia, ca. 1400 BC ~ Yes, it is Mesopotamia. Nice work there! But the date is waaaay off the mark.

M11
Map of Mediterranean, ca. 1460 ~ Yup, it's the Mediterranean again, in the religious map making tradition once more (see Jesus over Rome, which is quite unusual here for he is usually over Jerusalem, as in M13). Your date is a bit late though.

M12
No idea. Nile? ca. 600? ~ Well, sort of. It's the same Mediterranean region as M9, M11 and M13. Good guess on the date. It's actually from 776AD and comes from Mozarabic Spain.

M13
It has the same red sea as in M9, so it must be the mediterraneans again, ca. 750. ~ Yup, same region. But it's from the 1200s and is very much like the Buddhist map in the previous group, ie. has no interest in being geographical at all. It is meant to be an aid to prayer and contemplation and, like many others of its kind during this time, appeared inside the front of prayer books. In this case a Book of Psalms.

M14
World map ca. 1682 ~ You won't be surprised to learn there are no cookies for guessing that it's a world map. That's obvious. But you're too late on the date mate. The man who made this map is very important in the history of cartography. Know who it is?

 

[Mauritania]

Anyone want to guess why East was often at top?

My guess is that the sun rises there.

 

[Steph]

Because North was on the left?

Or because South was on the Right?

Or because West, where the sun dies (and so where it goes to hell, which is underground) is down?

 

[Rambuchan]

In Medieval Europe (say from about 400-500AD till the 1400s), the orientation of maps with East at Top was a convention that took hold, with only a few exceptions either side of this time frame. But this was so only during this period. It was by no means a convention before, indeed there was no real convention before, and certainly not after.

The three main, somewhat overlapping, reasons commonly cited for this are: a) Jerusalem was in the East and, with the vast majority of maps being created by people of a Judeo-Christian religious persuasion, that's where the importance lay. These were also largely Crusading times, after all. b) The sun rose in the east and c) The Garden of Eden was supposed to be somewhere in Asia and was of course of prime importance for the Christian mindset. You can actually see Adam and Eve with the Serpent depicted at top (ie. in Asia) on many of the Christian maps shown in the last group I coughed up.

 

[aaglo]

Is the last a mercator's first world map, from mid 16th century?

 

[Rambuchan]

Yes indeed aaglo! It's Gerard Mercator's World Map of 1569. The triangulation points are what gives that one away. And no, he wasn't drunk when he did the Americas.