Continuing my infatuation with maps, I came across this fine 16th-century example of a cartographer’s imagination running wild in an excellent post by Urvija Banerji of Atlas Obscura.

Image: Atlas Obscura

The creatures depicted on land in the 16th-century Carta Marinaare not particularly unusual: the map’s lands contain knights on horseback, wild boars and bears climbing trees. The west side of the map, however, shows a much more fanciful plethora of wildlife.

Cartographer Olaus Magnus created the Carta Marina above while staying in Rome, between the years 1527 and 1539. However, Magnus was originally from Sweden and chose to depict the Nordic countries in his map.

The Carta Marina was one of the most precise depictions of any part of Europe at the time. Which is more than can be said about its portrayal of the oceans.

As you can see, the northern seas are filled to the brim with…