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Are you a fan of cartography but curious to see the world through a different lens? Have you ever wondered how many blue whales would fit into the Vatican? Or what would the ancient continent of Pangea would look like with modern political borders? Or maybe you just would like to see how Manhattan looked while it was still called New Amsterdam?
If you've said "yes" to at least one of these, you're in luck! Bored Panda has prepared a compilation of cool maps from the Vintage Maps page on X where you can learn history and interesting new facts through the medium of cartography. So, scroll through these maps and marvel at how cool our world is.
More info: X (Twitter)
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#1
Manic Mama 2 hours ago
I grew up right in the centre, and I can tell you there's a very good reason why all the people live where they do.
Huddo's sister 5 minutes ago
I used to live in one of the blue areas, but now I'm an hour and a half to the east of thet.
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#4
Auntriarch 43 minutes ago
If you want a dragon nibbling your Balkans, that's entirely up to you
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#7
Kira Okah 3 hours ago
I'm trying to work out exactly what one that is in SW Wales. Is that Moridunum perhaps? Modern name Caerfyrddin/Carmarthen. A LOT of historians do like to claim that Romans never went that far west in Wales, in spite of the clear evidence in Carmarthen itself. Random map on the internet possibly being more accurate than quite a number of Roman Britain historians.
Sian E 3 hours ago (edited)
Yes that's Carmarthen. I should know, it's where I am right now! Also, which historians? I wanna go slap them with a bunch of Roman artefacts from the museum!
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#10
#11
Stardust she/her 2 hours ago
Something I love is how every culture has at some point had a mythological story about a great flood as it shows how our cultures have originated near rivers and experienced major. river flooding at some point
#13
Stardust she/her 2 hours ago
I will never shut up about how Pluto gets more attention than all the other dwarf planets just because it’s the only one you remember. The other dwarf planets are equally as interesting with interesting histories as well. Did you know that at one point Ceres was demoted from a planet to an asteroid and then to a dwarf planet? Did anyone complain back then about their favourite planet Ceres becoming an asteroid?
Multa Nocte 29 minutes ago
Stardust, you don't understand the relationship that a lot of us old timers have with Pluto. When we were in school we were taught that Pluto was a planet, the farthest one out, and we all kept an eye out for it, being so far away and so small. We had to learn its name and its position and some of us even had to learn little songs and rhymes about it being one of the planets. None of us had to learn about Ceres so we have no emotional attachment. You are young. One day, when you get older, when they take something that has been part of the fundamentals of your life and throw it away, you will see why we want to keep our little familiar buddy Pluto. Pluto - we love you and we believe you should still be a planet! 💔
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#15
Roman Arendt 43 minutes ago
Africa had to wait about 300 years to get that name.
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#17
GenuineJen 2 hours ago (edited)
It always takes me a while to get my Bering(s) with this map. It's difficult to sea strait.
Stardust she/her 2 hours ago
Highly recommend all fish have at least one copy of this map, would be very useful for navigation
#18
#20
Stardust she/her 1 hour ago
Kashmir is such a beautiful place but it’s honestly a shame that the situation is such that it’s unsafe to visit
#21
Stardust she/her 1 hour ago
I often think about those people who migrated across Oceania. Those islands would’ve been very small and spread so far apart yet humans were able to somehow do it. I wonder how many of them didn’t make it, sailing across vast distances can be pretty hard especially with wooden rafts yet somehow just enough of us did
#22
Stardust she/her 1 hour ago
Living in India I don’t recognise a lot of the coins, maybe only the ₹5 coin but the rest are probably ancient
Multa Nocte 21 minutes ago
The ones for the US are current and it looks to be the case for much of Europe as well.
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Multa Nocte 20 minutes ago
All us older folks are sad about our poor Pluto. :-(
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#25
GenuineJen 2 hours ago
Technically there are enough pines in the eastern U.S. that it would be green (-ish) even in the winter.
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#27
#31
#33
Roman Arendt 31 minutes ago
Yes. And incredibly sad what we Europeans made out of it. 😞
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#35
Multa Nocte 3 hours ago
Someone better remind the orange Oompa-Loompa that Bad Bunny is actually an American.
Did I say that out loud? 3 hours ago
I'm sure he knows, but Bad Bunny is the wrong colour of American.
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SkyBlueandBlack 3 hours ago
I can pick out the Missouri and the Platte, both North and South. Good enough?
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#41
#44
Kira Okah 3 hours ago (edited)
The area to the north of Joseon and east of Northern Yuan was the Jianzhou Jurchen Confederation. About 50 years after this map, the Ming tried to destabilise the Confederation, taking the grandson of one of the Jurchen chieftains (Giocangga) hostage and allying with another chieftain (Nikan Wailan). That hostage grandson was a boy named Nurhaci, who would go on to become the chieftain of the Jianzhou Confederacies, united the Jurchen under the name of "Manju" (anglicised: Manchu, believed to be an older name for the Jurchen) and under his banner of the Later Jin (renamed Daicing Gurun/Great Qing by his son and successor Hong Taiji, the Qing Dynasty you might know it as). They would become part of the fall of the Ming, and I find the lack of presence of the Jianzhou Jurchen Confederation annoying for how important they are to history, especially since the Four Oirat/Oirat Confederation is on here (so it is including important Asian continent Confederations).
Lost Panda 3 hours ago
Japan was never referred to as "Sengoku Jidai"... That was an era "Country at war era" you know line the "Victorian Era"
#45
Multa Nocte 3 hours ago
This is true. On a larger scale I live between *LA* Dordogne and *LA* Garonne, but the little river running through our local area is *LE* Dropt (it is a right tributary to the Garonne). It becomes second nature after a while, which is rather strange.
Roman Arendt 18 minutes ago (edited)
Additionaly, in Germany we have neutral names for some small creeks (if the name is a permanent diminutive). Very rare though.
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#48
Stardust she/her 1 hour ago
India and I think to an extent China have huge variations in climate across the country. What I know about India is that while it may be snowing in Kashmir, you could be boiling to death in South India while North-East India enjoys heavy rains
#50
Scarlett O'Hara's Ghost 2 hours ago
Because the the American desert southwest has the world's highest temps, consistently. Welcome to he!!
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#53
#54
Auntriarch 24 minutes ago
Probably the result of discussing their occupation. Others seem to relate to hobbies
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Kira Okah 2 hours ago
You can tell the exact town my parents are from if I say just one particular word, nowhere else in the UK let alone anywhere else in the world uses that word except that one single town. No I am not saying the word because it really is that specific.
Did I say that out loud? 3 hours ago
Six ways? Hahaha. There's way more than that just in the Black Country.
#56
Gingersnap In Iowa 3 hours ago
Trying to decide if I should move to Illinois/get permit for kangaroo OR move to Wisconsin and go wild owning a kangaroo without a permit.
#57
#58
#59
Multa Nocte 3 hours ago
Florida hates Florida? That would show some insight I didn't quite know they had.
#61
Scott Rackley 3 hours ago
d e a d conservatives, that's a good one, and Indiana catching strays
Multa Nocte 3 hours ago
I KNEW someone was going to realise that "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" was a documentary and not a spoof (Idaho)! Also Fnord! is apt for Utah.
#63
Slop Generator 3 hours ago
I'd put USA including Alaska within this Alaska outline for more fun
#64
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