If I can’t get there from here, where do I go to start getting there?
The answer of course is a map, and the skill to read one. We even used a map to get to the exhibit on maps. Following downloaded
directions, we found our way through the twisted city streets to the museum.
Along with a large display of traditional maps, the museum had many unconventional
designs. The Inuit had carved the edges of a flat piece of wood to mimic the Greenland coastline. A handy map that could withstand
the elements, and probably even floated if dropped in the water. At the Great Exhibition of 1851, a map of London had been
reproduced on a glove. North American soldiers used jackknives to engrave maps on their powder horns. One was displayed with
a painted map of the Hudson and Mohawk River valleys. Getting lost has apparently been a problem since the beginning of time,
and mankind has come up with many creative and innovative materials for documenting their paths.
Strange beasts and fantastic beings filled early maps of the New World. Amazon
warrior women, men with four arms, giants, monopods, half men half beasts, and mermaids inhabited the uncharted lands and
waters. Early cartographers started with information brought to them by explorers. Then apparently with no twinges of conscience,
they freely populated the unexplored areas with their imagination.
Science fiction writers of the early 20th century created similar
imaginary descriptions of landscapes on other planets. But their fictitious information was never used to actually explore
those worlds. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the lives of explorers depended on the charts drawn by
fanciful illustrators. Crude and inaccurate navigational instruments gave poor or faulty readings, which became part of future
charts. Sometimes they missed their destination by hundreds of miles.
For their trek across the continent, Lewis and Clark had the advantage of
a knowledgeable guide. Those that searched North American waters for the fabled Northwest Passage were not so fortunate. Nor
were those who sought the Fountain of Youth and the Seven Cities of Gold.
Discernment and wisdom are key when searching the unknown, but it also helps
to have the right guide.
