The map was made for Roger, king of Sicily. The red lines are trade routes. This is a reproduction kept in UAE’s Sharjah Museum.
The map was made for Roger, king of Sicily. The red lines are trade routes. This is a reproduction kept in UAE’s Sharjah Museum.
BUT PEOPLE THOUGHT THE EARTH WAS FLAT!!!
(EDIT: I figured people world know, since it was posted in a history community, but no, people didn’t think the earth was flat. Eratosthenes had measured the circumference of the earth to a reasonable degree of approximation in the 3rd century BC. Even in medieval Europe, people that cared, knew)
Some thought that … and some didn’t. Some noticed the shape of the Earth’s shadow on the Moon was round. Some noticed that as ships sailed into the distance, they ‘sank down’ until only the sails were visible. All ‘people’ weren’t smart about it.
Anyway, putting a big map like that on a 6-foot globe, you could stand in one place, spin it, and see it all.
Related fact: the Greek astronomer Anaxagoras taught that the Earth went around the Sun … 1500 years before this map was made.
kn the 12th century pretty much noone belived that for millenials. maybe some cult but i wont count that. flat earth theory is funnily enough a modern thing. sure it is based on medival sources, that portray a flat earth, but these were christian sources tryint to portray gods realm and earth in one picture. it was like a metaphore, and we know even the church knew, accepted and teached about the round earth.
This is a map, on a globe…
Not all people, but anyone who was educated knew. With a few exceptions for educated biblical literalists, who would not have been standard in the Catholic Church of the time. If you thought the world was flat, you were a bumpkin or an unorthodox fanatic.