Q&A

Medieval maps are often illustrated with strange sea creatures. What are they supposed to represent?

Medieval European maps differ from modern charts in several significant respects. They’re rarely orientated north-south – most have east at the top. Their descriptions of landmasses and their sense of scale are also different yet, curiously, not entirely dissimilar to the northern hemisphere as seen on Google Earth. And the oceans, too, look unfamiliar, often populated with extraordinary