M. E. Rothwell on Substack
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M. E. Rothwell on Substack
The map had been the first form of misdirection, for what was a map but a way of emphasizing some things and making other things invisible?
Jeff VanderMeer • Annihilation
Maps from the early seventeenth century show the fragmented vision of the world’s geography available to mariners. A vast, blank expanse filled these maps, a frightening terra incognita concealing unknown possibilities for commerce or plunder. The only viable trade route to the silks, spices and gems of the mysterious Eastern lands was precarious a
... See moreStephen R. Bown • Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, 16001900
It is one of the great puzzles of cartographic history that hardly any world maps survive from either the Roman Republic or Empire.
Jerry Brotton • A History of the World in 12 Maps
an explorer of the unknown and as yet unseen.