This is a MapHist list message (when you hit 'reply' you're replying to the whole list) o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o +
Hillary, If you want to understand how several cartographic myths came to pass, I would second Jay's note on Seymour Schwartz's book "The Mismapping of America." If you are talking about any given case, the answer is what we use to call "DOTS" in the military .... depends on the situation. The reasons may have included: inadequate information, misinterpretation of information, misrepresentation of information, misdocumentation of hoped for geography, geo-political aspirations documented as fact, theoretical, artistic, outright fraud or a combination. Don McGuirk ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 12:45:42 PM GMT -07:00 US/Canada Mountain Subject: [MapHist] How do map-myths get started? This is a MapHist list message (when you hit 'reply' you're replying to the whole list) o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + o + We've all seen maps that, with the benefit of satellite mapping and geological knowledge, clearly never represented anything near reality. For example, maps of large islands between Brazil and Africa marked 'Atlantis', or maps of a large Caspian - Aral Sea, longer east-west than north-south. These maps are apparently quite detailed, with rivers, hills, marked on. How did such detail get started. Did some ancient cartographer have some kind of vision and believe, as they did then, that this vision was a real revelation, draw what they had seen, and this 'map'then get copied by subsequent generations as real, subsequent people with limite dtravel and no aerial view could not know otherwise. Or did these cartographers simply put in what looked good and plausible, making such 'maps 'more like paintings. What was in the cartographer's mind as he drew such things, artistic licence, or copying what he thought was really there? Hillary Shaw Newport Shropshire _______________________________________________ MapHist: E-mail discussion group on the history of cartography hosted by the Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht. The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Utrecht. The University of Utrecht does not take any responsibility for the views of the author. List Information: http://www.maphist.nl Maphist mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.geo.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/maphist _______________________________________________ MapHist: E-mail discussion group on the history of cartography hosted by the Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht. The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the University of Utrecht. The University of Utrecht does not take any responsibility for the views of the author. List Information: http://www.maphist.nl Maphist mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.geo.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/maphist
