In 1581, the medieval automobile­tog­ra­ph­er and Protes­tant the­olo­gian Hein­rich Bünt­ing cre­at­ed a sym­bol­ic map of the world that adorned his guide Itin­er­ar­i­um Sacrae Scrip­turae (Trav­el By way of Holy Scrip­ture). Hand-col­ored and formed like a three-leaf clover, the map put Jerusalem at its cen­ter, excessive­mild­ing its cen­tral position in Chris­tian­i­ty, Judaism, and Islam. From that cen­ter flowed three continents—Europe, Africa, and Asia—every sur­spherical­ed by swirling waters teem­ing with ships, mer­maids, and sea mon­sters. Then, off to 1 facet, we discover a bar­ren “Amer­i­ca,” oth­er­smart often called the “New World.”

The three-leaf clover design like­ly sym­bol­izes the Chris­t­ian trin­i­ty, whereas additionally pay­ing homage to the clover design discovered on the coat of arms of Bünt­ing’s native dwelling­city, Hanover. Past the map fea­tured above, Bünt­ing additionally designed some oth­er notably uncon­ven­tion­al maps. Take, for examination­ple, a map where Europe takes the form of a vir­gin queen, or a map of Asia that’s shaped like the winged horse Pega­sus. You may view a copy of the Itin­er­ar­i­um Sacrae Scrip­turae online.

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