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Historians report that 13th-century Dutch cartographer Leewyghn van Reeuoeboek worked on a map of the world for 30 years, and it isn’t even close.
“You can tell he was trying,” said archivist and historian Marianne Bronner, pointing to a wildly distorted map. “I think that thing sticking out at the bottom is supposed to be South America. And the bright red dot is the Netherlands. I have literally no idea what the rest of it is.”
Bronner speculates that it was difficult for Reeuoeboek to depict world geography accurately, since he spent his entire life in a landlocked Dutch village and never asked anybody what the world looked like.
“He just got rid of Australia,” said Bronner, motioning to a large empty space labeled ‘Heere Be Dragons.’ “And he added a continent called ‘Floralia’ at the North Pole. Where did he get that? Did someone tell him that was there?”
At press time, historians found that medieval scientists were just making up fake animals.
