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TED-Ed

The biggest mistakes in mapmaking history - Kayla Wolf

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For thousands of years, people made both functional maps and what are known as cosmographies, illustrating the earth and its position in the cosmos, often including constellations, gods, and mythic locations. These maps were meant to depict the world's geography, but weren't necessarily useful for navigation and contained some glaring mistakes. Kayla Wolf shares mapmaking’s biggest blunders.

Additional Resources for you to Explore

Like most other technologies, map-making has improved over time. This lesson shows just a handful of some of the most fun mapmaking bloopers over time. Here are some links for how to learn more.

You can take an interactive 3D virtual tour of the mappae mundi here and zoom in on some of the more fantastical details!

Stanford University has a whole exhibit of all the maps of California as an island and you can check it out virtually here.

Curious about how one of history’s most renowned mapmakers could draw such an incorrect map with a magical rock at the north pole? Here’s an article that digs into Mercator’s North Pole map a bit more.

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Meet The Creators

Educator
Kayla Wolf
Director
Serin İnan, Kozmonot Animation Studio
Narrator
Alexandra Panzer
Storyboard Artist
Gürkan Gürler
Animator
İrem Usta, Gürkan Gürler
Compositor
Serin İnan
Art Director
Gürkan Gürler
Music
Cem Misirlioglu, David Coltun
Sound Designer
Cem Misirlioglu
Director of Production
Gerta Xhelo
Editorial Director
Alex Rosenthal
Producer
Bethany Cutmore-Scott
Editorial Producer
Elizabeth Cox
Fact-Checker
Jennifer Nam

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