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Imagining the world
UNESCO Courier, June, 1991 by Catherine Delano-Smith
Another feature imposed on European regional and world maps by the Christian theological imagination has been the terrestrial paradise or Garden of Eden. In the fifth century AID an Irish monk, St. Brendan, sailed westwards to find what he believed were the Isle of Paradise. St. Brendan's islands remained on maps for many centuries, even when, as on the Hereford mappamundi, Eden was marked in the east. St. Brendan's islands (sometimes marked as the Fortunate Isles) were often confused with real Atlantic islands. Usually, though, in accordance with the description in Genesis chapter 2, Eden was placed in the east. On medieval maps it was placed prominently at the edge of the map.
With the emergence of Protestantism in the sixteeth century, and especially John Calvin's insistence on a literal interpretation of the biblical text, Eden had to be shown close by the Tigris and Euphrates, two of the four rivers said to water it. The religious drive to find an earthly Eden could be strong. Despite increasingly detailed knowledge of real world geography, the search continued to recent times. In 1666, M. Carver published a map in his book showing Paradise in Armenia, and in 1882 General Gordon put forward his idea that, before the Flood (yet another of the world's "great myths") Paradise had been situated on Praslin in the Seychelles.
Perhaps we should not dismiss the topic of imagined worlds too lightly, as if it illustrated merely some of the quainter sides of human nature or human history. We still often prefer to imagine the world or to lead others to see it in a preferred way. National maps may present a "scientific" face but it is not difficult to deduce omissions, such as military installations, artfields, or politically sensitive targets such as biological research centres. Nor is it difficult to discern the way modern geographical "myths" are created through, for example, the removal from the map of settlements after rumours of certain types of man-made disaster, or the translation of sea or city names on the map as a cartographic substitute for political aggression less easily achieved overtly. In modern as in ancient maps, myth and legend remain ingrained.
CATHERINE DELANO-SMITH, of the United Kingdom, has taught historical geography at a number of British universities and is currently Visiting Reader in London University's Department of Mediterranean Studies. Her special interests in the history of cartography include prehistoric maps, the history of map signs before 1800, and maps in bibles.
COPYRIGHT 1991 UNESCO
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
