The Island of California

[DamianJ]

This is from when people thought California was an island.

More here: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/maps-california-island/

[Best-In-BC]

The other 1/4 of the american population want it this way, lol

[SilentKnight]

The next big quake will make that map more accurate.

[Dvae]

Originally Posted by DamianJ

This is from when people thought California was an island.

Thats nothing! I can remember when California was one of the 57 states.

[marcop]

Originally Posted by Best-In-BC

The other 1/4 of the american population want it this way, lol

I'd be happy with that.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

1708 Map (just over 300 years ago):



Japanese map circa 1791 (based upon Dutch maps):

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device'
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
'Relax,' said the night man,
'We are programmed to receive.
You can check out any time you like,
But you can never leave ...

― The Eagles, Hotel California

Interesting thread...



ADG

[EddyTheDog]

I assume that what they think is 'California Island' is Baja, Mexico?..

[Matt 26z]

Looks like the western US must have been flooded. I don't think you can attribute this to a map making mistake. If they want so far as to draw islands then there must have been a body of water there.

[EddyTheDog]

Originally Posted by Matt 26z

Looks like the western US must have been flooded. I don't think you can attribute this to a map making mistake. If they want so far as to draw islands then there must have been a body of water there.

It wasn't that long ago - A few hundred not million years...

[TheSquealer]

Originally Posted by EddyTheDog

I assume that what they think is 'California Island' is Baja, Mexico?..

Yes, it appears the makers did not go further north than the middle of the peninsula

[deltav]

Originally Posted by Matt 26z

Looks like the western US must have been flooded. I don't think you can attribute this to a map making mistake. If they want so far as to draw islands then there must have been a body of water there.

The cartographers hit the Sea of Cortez/Gulf of California from what is now mainland Mexico, and just assumed the peninsula of Baja California (literally, "Lower California") didn't connect to land. Baja is 1,000 miles long, so you can travel quite a ways north before the mainland bridges over. I just drove it in January and it's a long journey, very very interesting country tho...

Then other cartographers copied said map, even after later expeditions cast doubt on the island theory. It should be noted that until modern times, map-making was a very very inexact science, and you had all sorts of mythical and/or extrapolated places filling in blanks that the explorers never set foot in.

Cool post though.

[AsianDivaGirlsWebDude]

The first whole-world maps began to appear in the early 16th century, following voyages by Columbus and others to the New World.

The first true world map is generally credited to Martin Waldseemüller in 1507. This map utilized an expanded Ptolemaic projection and was the first map to use the name America for the New World:

It wasn't until the 19th century that Terra Cognita (Parts Unknown), disappeared from maps, since much of the coastlines of the earth had been explored by that point.

Apparently there is still some work to be done...





ADG

[mineistaken]

There should have been water there.. Nobody would have drawn island is no water. And probably not a river as they knew what rivers were.

[Mutt]

Originally Posted by Matt 26z

Looks like the western US must have been flooded. I don't think you can attribute this to a map making mistake. If they want so far as to draw islands then there must have been a body of water there.

As always, thanks for the ignorant kook opinion.