How do ancient maps differ from modern ones? Ancient maps of Russia. On the map Tartaria is located on the lands of the Cossacks
The history of the country is reflected in the maps that people began to make quite a long time ago. They depicted not only their state, but also their neighbors. The cards were provided with inscriptions. By reading them, we learn the names of neighboring and distant countries. State borders and much more are clearly visible.
What is shown on ancient Russian maps? Why are they not cited in Russian history textbooks? And if they do bring them, then, as a rule, these are maps of the 18th–19th centuries. Of course, there are maps in textbooks, and there are many of them, but these are not ancient maps, but made by modern artists from the words of historians.
Let's look authentic ancient Russians cards. We are not the first among those who have done this. V. N. Tatishchev searched for them before us in the 18th century. This is what he writes about the results of his searches.
“I don’t find anywhere about the beginning of geographical art or an accurate description in Rus', except that Nestor described the peoples that existed before and at that time. From it, the chroniclers remember the reigns, but everything that belongs to geography is very dark and insufficient. Then Simon, Bishop of Suzdal, says: Great Prince Constantine the Wise described all the peoples and borders, but it has not reached us. According to him, Tsar John II (Ivan IV. - A.G.), about which in 1552 it is said that he ordered the lands to be measured and a drawing of the state to be made. However, this drawing is nowhere to be seen, except that in the Kazan archives for one Kazan possession, as I remember, it was made on 16 sheets without a scale, but from place to place miles are signed in number (as we see, our ancestors understood the importance of maps, once the miles have been marked - A.G.). Only the book, called the Great Drawing, remains, and, I think, Macarius understands this drawing. It describes rivers, lakes, mountains and noble villages at a distance, which began, it seems, under John I the Great, and under his grandson Tsar John II and after under Tsar Alexy it was completed, but under the latter much of it was damaged from disrepair and the addition could not correct everything, since there is no description of the Moscow River and other nobles, and there are many obvious errors and prophets in it. However, it is very necessary and useful for Russian geography, for this reason I explained it, expanded it and attached an alphabetical list.
Under Tsar Boris, a land map was created with great skill, and although it is not entirely correct, it shows a lot about the Eastern Tatars, which has not been found in any foreign ones so far, especially Bukharia and the Aral Sea, which is called the Blue Sea, quite decently entered. Under him and under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, I found three land maps made of different Siberia, also by Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich, a general Russian one and several particular ones, all on one sheet of plain paper, and from the general one it is clear that someone understood the Latin language, for he put down many Latin words and divided by degrees. I found these land maps in Siberia with a nobleman, bound in a book, like a wondrous weight, in 1739 I wanted to present it to the Imperial Majesty. Then, under Tsar Alexy in 1664, the above-announced book Big Drawing was added, notably, to the creation of a land map (it seems that the drawing is not a map yet, but only a verbal description. - A.G.), which was created, we do not see. Witsen, the mayor of Amsterdam, announced that it was carved and printed on wood, only after a trial was enough for me, no one came to see it printed, and although they say that it is in the Senate archives, only no one could find it and show it to me.” (Tatishchev, T. 1, p. 348).
Thus, in Russia they “didn’t like” geography, and even if maps were made, they somehow disappeared into oblivion on their own. And Peter the Great found himself without maps of his own state. After all, the map is a “wonderful thing” and is found only in Siberia.
Perhaps things were just as bad with ancient maps in Europe? Let’s make a reservation that we are only interested in those ancient Western European maps that depict Russia. Let us quote from Klyuchevsky’s book, which talks about the interest of foreigners in Russia. “Although it was known back at the beginning of the 18th century that “these people are afraid to go to Russia, thinking that going there means going to the ‘end of the world,’ that this country borders on the ‘Indies.' Meanwhile, at the same time that such ideas about Russia dominated in Western Europe, not a single European country was so many times described in detail by travelers from Western Europe as distant Muscovy" (Klyuchevsky, 1991, p. 5)
Indeed, there are many ancient descriptions and many maps about Russia and Muscovy. In Europe, books with maps of Russia and Tartaria are published with amazing consistency.
Let's list them (you can view them on the Internet at http:// users . univer . omsk . su /~ guts / History /).
1. Mauro, Fra. Manuscript planisphere of 1460.
Russia, in particular, is depicted (south - above, north - below; Tartary in the Don region, Saray, Horde on the Volga, Gothia at the mouth of the Dnieper):
Russia, Tartaria in Europe.
Another map from this atlas. It shows Russian Asia in 1460! Its name is Sarmatia (to the east of it - Tanguts). Siberia is also on the map.
2. Giacamo Gastaldi. A map of Russia. Vienna, in a Latin edition of 1549.
3. Anthony Jenkenson. 1562. Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartaria Descriptio.
Russia, Tartary, including the Don region, cassac (Cossacks?) on the Irtysh (or Ob), flowing into Lake China (?)).
The information supplied on the map is based on the travels of Anthony Jenkinson who in 1557 and 1561 sought to open trade to Persia by way of northern Russia for England's Muscovy Company.Originally published in Ortelius's Atlas, this map was also included in Gerard de Jode's Speculum Orbis Terrarum.
4. Gerard Mercator. 1595. Ukraine, Russia, Tartaria.
On the map, Tartary is located on the lands of the Cossacks.
5. Isaac Massa. 1620. Russiae vulgo Moscovia, Pars Australis, Paris.
Above the Don River there is an area called Pole. On the map in point 3, Tartary was here. Pole is also on the map of 1678, and the Tatars live a little higher.
From the Atlas of Johannes and Cornelius Blaeu. The figures at the bottom are dressed in furs, reflecting the contemporary interest in Russia as a fur-producing region.
6. Mercator. Russia. 1621. Avery early map of European Russia.
Tartaria on the Don, Gothia in Sweden.
7. Olearius, Adam 1669. A new map of Muscovy.
Perikop Tatars live on the lands of the Don Cossacks.
The voyages and travels of the ambassadors sent by Frederic Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia. London, For John Starkey and Thomas Basset, 1669.
Olearius was secretary to the embassy sent out by the duke of Holstein in 1633 to explore commercial opportunities in Persia and Russia. This map depicts much of the area traversed by the embassy, showing western Russia from the Murmansk to the Black and Caspian Seas, the river systems being dominant features.
8. Coronelli, Vincenzo. 1690.
Siberia between the Volga and the Urals, Great Tartaria, Regno di Kasgak Chaizag (?)).
Atlante Veneto, nel quale si contiene la descrittione geografica, storica, sacra, profana, e politica. Venice, Domenico Padoueani, 1690. This map includes that part of Russia north of the Caspian Sea and somewhat to the east.
9. Zatta, Antoneo. 1779–85. Chinese Tartary.
Zatta is not well known as a map publisher although his four-volume atlas contains 214 maps. They are distinguished more for their clarity and artistic quality than for originality. Two of the maps depict Asiatic Russia including this one of Independent Tartary which was nominally a part of the Russian empire
In my youth I loved very much board game“Star of Africa”, the playing field in it was a map of the African continent, made in an ancient style: some monsters were depicted in the ocean, cities were also indicated by ancient buildings. Subsequently, I learned that such images were actually applied to ancient maps. For example, a place where ships often disappeared was marked with a drawing of an unknown animal (usually a leviathan), which was supposed to warn the sailors of old.
Ancient maps
The first map of the area that has reached us dates back to the 7th millennium BC. e. It depicts a Neolithic village located in what is now Turkey. Naturally, it is very primitive and schematic in nature. The heyday of cartography dates back to the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, when the map ceased to be a pleasant help, but became a necessity. Previously, maps were drawn by just one person, based on his own observations, often providing them with various drawings and notes that were not relevant to the question. Therefore, their accuracy was questionable. The leaders in the field of mapping at that time were eastern sailors.
There are still disputes about the Turkish map of Piri Reis with Antarctica depicted on it 300 years before it official opening.
Modern cartography
Nowadays, many people work on mapping, from astronauts to professional artists. Now no one draws cards alone by hand, and everyone is busy with their own business:
The main difference modern maps from the ancients is their practical significance, i.e. they do not need to stand out with any special design and beauty, the main thing in them is accuracy and ease of use.
Maps of the Earth were compiled 30,000,000 years ago
Why did ancient cartographers depict the continents as they were located millions of years ago?
On ancient maps, Antarctica is shown without ice, and the remaining continents are in completely different positions than today. These are the famous 16th century maps of Piri Reis, Orontius Phineus, Hadji Ahmed and some others. Scientists have tried to determine when on our planet there was such a position of the continents, according to geology? The results turned out to be so amazing that the scientific world is still silent about them: ancient maps depict planet Earth 24-34 million years ago...
Map of Orontius (Orontius Finn). Paris, 1534-1536
How is this possible? How did medieval cartographers know the outlines of continents that existed long before the appearance of the first man (if you believe the official history)? Independent researcher, geologist, editor-in-chief of the portal "Before the Flood" Alexander Koltypin analyzes information related to maps ancient earth and compares it with data from geological and geographical reconstructions.
Alexander Koltypin:— Proof, probably, of everything that modern historical and archaeological science is probably not on the right path, we can also cite such a class of information as maps of ancient navigators, which include the map known, probably to many, of Piri Reis, the map of Orontius Phineus, the map of Hadji Ahmed, well, and a whole series of maps that show the world completely different from what it is now. For example, on the Ica stones, which were found in Peru by Cabrera, the most ancient maps are also depicted; the continents were located differently than they are now. For example, on the Piri Reis map, South America is connected to Antarctica. On the map of Orontius Phineus or Hadji Ahmed, Antarctica is shown as a single continent, free of ice. And if you take Philippe Boishet, for example, the map, it shows Antarctica as two islands. If on Orontia Phinea there the smallest central part was apparently covered in ice, because it is without details, and the rivers are only drawn along the edges, then there are simply two islands, as it is now, based on geophysical research that began to be carried out with sixties, only the twentieth century only became known. How did the ancients know this, in the 15th, 16th, 14th centuries?
How was this known? Because if you follow the theory that historians are now developing, the classical theory, then they could not have known any of this, and all this cannot be attributed to a random coincidence. Trying to analyze the map of Antarctica by Orontius Pheneus, well, they date it, as a rule, to approximately the twentieth millennium BC. This is already unscientific research, this is research that goes beyond the category of official science. Naturally, as a geologist, I also could not help but pay attention to these maps. And, first of all, I began to ask questions such as why, for example, Antarctica is connected to South America? When did their separation occur? When was Antarctica completely free of ice and consisting of two islands? When did it become covered with ice in the central part? When did it have rivers? I found this answer in paleogeological, or more correctly, paleogeographical reconstructions that exist, and in paleoclimatic reconstructions, of which there are quite a lot, and also which show the location of the continent.
So, the separation of South America and Antarctica occurred, according to some sources, 24 million years ago, according to others, 34 million years ago. Here, Antarctica existed in the form of two islands more than 30 million years ago. Ice-free Antarctica existed somewhere around 25, I’m not saying the exact date, but approximately I’m saying about 25 million years ago. After 16 million years ago, almost continuous glaciation of Antarctica began, and its contours were already very close, it was an ice continent, and 5 million years ago it was completely covered with ice and was no longer different from the modern one. That's what the geological data says. This means that if we consider that suddenly some ancient cartographers were not struck by inspiration, then these were some sketches with more early cards, which somehow survived from that time 30 million years ago, 25 million years ago, when there were highly developed civilizations that made these maps. We read the same Mahabharata, we read the Rigveda, they talk about a certain race of space aliens led by Vaishvanara, and in the book of Enoch these are guardians who descended to Earth and began to map the Earth.
Moreover, this is quite figuratively spelled out, that is, not only the Earth, but also the near-Earth spaces, that is, perhaps these maps really existed from that time, and they somehow after the catastrophes, after the floods that preserved the Earth, in the same underground structures could have survived and somehow fallen into the hands of these medieval cartographers, who, most likely, did not use them, but simply redrew them and, based on these maps, made their geographical discoveries. But the maps were not entirely accurate, because the contours of the earth changed during this time; although they did not change significantly over 20 million years, they still changed, so mistakes occurred, and sometimes completely unexpected discoveries. At least, I think that this is a great example when work at the intersection of geology and folklore makes it possible to decipher these maps in this way, among other things.
