“The Art of Cartography” runs at the Toronto Reference Library from Aug. 13-Oct. 16. Here’s a sneak preview of its monster-laden maps:
1. Map of Iceland, 1592
Abraham Ortelius’ Theatre of the World is considered the first modern printed atlas. Tingling with imagination and Old Norse mythology, his maps featured sea creatures and monsters, like the Ziphius, “a horrible sea monster that swallows a black seal in one bite.” Prior to the 17th century, “there were vast areas of land that were terra incognita, and cartographers used imagery to fill in empty spaces,” said Joanna Morrison, a librarian in the Toronto Reference Library special collections department.
2. Toronto, 1851
This topographical plan of the city a mere 18 years after its incorporation engraves in the border the prominent buildings of the day: Anglican and Presbyterian churches, the Bank of Upper Canada — in league with the elite Family Compact — and the infamous “Provincial Lunatic Asylum” — then one year old — at 999 Queen St. W. The plan is courtesy of the Scottish-born Canadian engineer and surveyor Sir Sandford Fleming.
3. America, 1626
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Then known as two parts of the same whole, the dual continent of America rendered here is one of the earliest British maps of the mysterious New World. Note that it depicted California as an island, a cartographic error passed down in maps of North America for more than two centuries, Morrison said. “Mapmakers invented lands that were added in to their works to create a more complete picture of the region’s geography.
4. Palma, 1593
This map showcases the star-shaped, fortified city of Palma Nova in northeastern Italy. It’s part of Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg’s Cities of the World, a lavish atlas that features 546 scenes, birds-eye views and maps of cities from across the known world.
5. Carte générale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France, 1753
Tracing the larger rivers and watersheds around the Great Lakes that defined early settlement in Upper and Lower Canada, this general map was one of the first to use “Toronto” in reference to the present site of the city. The map was drawn by Lord Amherst, the British commander-in-chief in America during the French and Indian War.
6. North Pole, 1613
This is the first printed map of the North Pole. Cartographer Gerard Mercator envisioned the “polus arcticus” as divided into four mountainous islands surrounding a black magnetic rock, which was ensconced in a whirlpool and river rapids, Morrison said. “Mapmakers met the challenge of unknown territory by including drawings of plants, animals and indigenous peoples, as well as mythological creatures, but they also invented lands that were added in to their works to create a more complete picture of the region’s geography,” she said.
7. North America, 1715
This “new and exact map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye Continent of North America” was commonly known as the “beaver map.” It was likely the first to trace the postal routes in the British colonies. Cartographer Herman Moll’s sketch of beavers busily building a dam in front of Niagara Falls “illustrates the notion that prosperity and development could be brought about by diligence and hard-work,” Morrison said. Thanks in part to documents like this, industrious rodents and the Falls would both become part of Canada’s iconography.
8. The ‘Whole Celestial World,’ 1685
Stars and the cosmos were the first subjects to be charted by early mapmakers, Morrison said. Celestial maps charted the positions of stars, planets, comets and other astronomical bodies. This celestial map comes from Allain Mallet’s Description de L’Univers.
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