Alastair Bonnett stated that he had a “emotional shock” when he discovered the map, “These are maps that challenge the world. Sometimes it expands our perspective, sometimes they wash completely,” he continues.
Bonnett was translated into 19 languages, including the writers and books of many studies examining the intersection between geography and society.
In this latest book, it includes a wide range of range from ancient maps to maps created with the most advanced technology.
The maps in the book include not only our planet but also space. Speaking to BBC Mundo, Bonnett told six maps reflecting the diversity and richness in his book.
1. Discovery of China: Fake but meaningful map
In 2001, an amateur historian made a discovery in an antique shop in Shanghai with the possibility of changing human history. What he found was a world map of 1418. This map included America and was drawn 70 years before Christopher Columbus reached the continent.
The person who made the map not only draws all continents, including Antarctica, with surprising accuracy, but also added various explanations. For example, while writing “the skin of the people here is like black polish”, about South America, “people are used as sacrifices and worship fire”.
The news about the 1418 map has echoed worldwide. Moreover, this discovery was made by a discovery delegation led by the legendary Chinese Cashif Zheng He.
However, there was a problem: the map was completely fake. According to Bonnett, the map was so detailed that a lot of overlapping exploration flights should have been recorded in order for the Chinese to have so much information about the world.
Bonnett said that this is the only fake map in his book, “but still interesting, because it shows that it is a great appetite for diversification of history,” he says.
2. The ‘magical’ maps of the Aztecs
Noting that all of the ‘modern’ maps are roads and cities, Bonnett says in the section where he mentioned the two Aztec maps, “but many ‘pre -modern’ maps were also embroidered on magic and narrative.”
These two maps Codex Quetzalecatzin and Codex Nutall.
Codex Quetzalecatzin belonged to 1593, after the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, while Codex Nutall was built hundred years ago.
Both are rare maps. Because many maps, books and texts, which the Spaniards saw as “evil”, were destroyed.
“It doesn’t look like a map at first,” Bonnett says about Codex Nuttall.
“Because we often think of maps as a small model of reality from above. But here people, animals and some fantastic creatures are combined with different perspectives.
The key to understanding the map lies in solving the symbols. For example, a creature with an open mouth indicates the existence of a cave.
“We’ve never seen such maps again,” Bonnett adds.
On the other hand, Codex Quetzalecatzin is a ‘hybrid’ map.
In addition to the Aztec symbols, it contains texts written in the Latin alphabet in Spanish and Nahuatl.
The map was prepared by Quetzalecatzin, one of the most powerful Aztec families of the time, or “de León”, which was adopted.
The purpose of the map was to show that they had the right to their ancestors on certain lands in the regions known as puebla and oaxaca today, so it contained a geographical data as well as a family tree. “This map shows not only the space, but also time, Bon says Bonnett and continues:
“This map in the book is important not only because it is a map of the domestic or colonial period, but also in terms of showing the birth of a hybrid society.”
