Andinia.com - Product Review: Brigade Quartermasters

Brigade Quartermasters - Guides and Maps

Guides, maps, GPS systems, compasses and other orientation devices for outdoor activities.

Never go outdoors without proper orinetation equipment.

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With old maps and charts come a lot of controversy and interpretation difficulties; due to the imperfection of the plotting methods used in most cases, charts old enough are difficult to read.

Then, you should know that before international time and coordinates were agreed as to be zeroed on Greenwich observatory, in the United Kingdom, each country had its own time and coordinate system; so latitude and longitude in old maps may need reinterpretation. This was a major problem: some ships sunk, other s ran aground, and many others had a lot of trouble because these differences that led to mistakes.

And then, there are those forgeries that seem to convince many people, but are false anyway. A few years ago, for example, an allegedly Viking map portraying the North Atlantic, from Vitland (America) to the Baltic appeared, and many believed that it was actually authentic.

However, in it Greenland appears with the shape we know today it has, as an island; this is a fact that was unknown to the Vikings. And secondly, pigments that were used only after the late nineteenth century were found in the map's ink.

So, be careful when taking a chart for granted. There are many tests that could be used to determine the authenticity of old marine or land charts, being Carbon 14 the most popular and pretty exact. However, the historical and social context of the chart's era, as well as available technology should also be considered when trying to make such determinations.