Mappae mundi, literally “cloths of the world,” were medieval Europeans’ depictions of the lands and peoples of the Earth.
The term mappae mundi can refer either to maps, such as medieval T-O MAPS, or to written works of geography. Medieval maps did not follow modern conventions of mapmaking. They seldom portrayed coastlines, rivers,
This large mappa mundi bears the date 1544 and depicts the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, and the nine winds. (Hulton/Archive)
Or other geographical features accurately. Mappae mundi were primarily intended to depict religious and spiritual concepts, not to provide accurate charts for travelers. In general, mappae mundi included illustrations of distant regions of the globe and populated them with figures who were important to Christian history, especially people who might be expected to play a role in the coming of the end of the world. Thus, medieval mapmakers placed Gog and Magog, the 10 lost tribes of Israel, the Magi, and the legendary king Prester John on their maps. The maps also depicted fabulous monsters and strange races of human beings, such as the Sciapodes, who had only one foot, which they stretched over their heads to shade themselves from the sun, and headless people whose faces were in their chests. Such maps, scholars assert, helped medieval Christians appreciate the wondrous powers of their God.
Mappae mundi generally depicted a round world, with water surrounding the known continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Some map readers argued that with such a round world, there must be only a short stretch of ocean separating Europe from Asia. Such maps and arguments helped convince Christopher Columbus that he could reach Asia by sailing west from Europe.
Further reading: Evelyn Edson, Mapping Time and Space: How Medieval Mapmakers Viewed Their World (London: British Library, 1977); Valerie I. J. Flint, The Imaginative Landscape of Christopher Columbus (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1992); William D. Phillips, Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991); R. V. Tooley, Maps and Map-Makers, 7th ed. (London: B. T. Batsford, 1987).
—Martha K. Robinson
World History
