Opening Atlantis

I just finished reading Opening Atlantis, the first book in Harry Turtledove's latest alternate history series. In this alternate time-line, a portion of the North American continent split off and drifted into the Atlantic Ocean, 85 millions years in the past. The small continent was never populated by humans, and much like Australia, the flora and fauna took a decidedly different evolutionary path. This book presents three episodes in the colonization of the small continent: the first settlement by Englishmen in 1462, a conflict with pirates in the 1600s, and the English-French war of the mid 1700s.

As with any sort of fantastic literature, there is little point in arguing the plausibility of the scenario... for instance, with this new continent so much closer to Europe, it is hard to imagine that it would have taken until the 15th century to discover it. Surely the Phoenicians, Romans or Vikings would have found it before then... So, the best thing is to accept the premise and enjoy the ride.

According to Uchronia: The Alternate History List, Turtledove has also written two additional novellas that take place in this universe. One of the stories takes place in the 1840s, when naturalist John Jay Aubudon travels to Atlantis for one last view of bird species nearing extinction. It is likely that these two novellas will serve as the basis for the projected second book in the series, The United States of Atlantis.

Other Map Blogs of Note

While I never imagined what I was doing here was completely original... I hadn't yet come across other blogs that were devoted to "fun with maps". Since starting this blog several weeks ago, I have discovered several.

Maps For Us: The Children of America Need Maps appears to have started just a few weeks before mine. Clearly inspired by Miss Teen South Carolina:



Maps For Us encourages folks to send in their maps to help children learn from maps... submitted maps are serious and whimsical, and include everything from maps to coffee shops in Amsterdam:



The the lost continent of Atlantis:



UPDATE 11/6: But, they haven't posted since September, so they seem to have lost interest already...

UPDATE 12/2: "This Account Has Been Suspended". I guess the joke is over.

Strange Maps appears to have been publishing from the UK since 2006. This cartophile shares odd maps that he finds or his reader send. Most of the maps appear to have some serious intent, such as this map of the socio-economic divide of England:



or a folk art rendition of Peru:



Launched in March 2003, The Map Room is a blog that points to maps, map collections, map-related resources, and material about maps on the web.

His most recent post, brought this new "Atlas" to my attention:



2003!

I sort of had an idea for a blog like this back in 1994... but I didn't know what blogs were.

That was right about the time I had, what I thought was a brilliant idea... I would compile a bibliography of Alternate History books. However, while I was compiling titles, I found a website that was already doing it. The website that would become Uchronia: the Alternate History List had already compiled a list three times the size of mine.

Yet again, I am unoriginal. But I'll keep at it. I still have hundreds of post cards, ads and other map memorabilia that maybe, just maybe no one else has posted...

If you find any of this remotely interesting, please feel free to comment. Also, feel free to send interesting links or images of map memorabilia to me at Admin AT cartophilia.com.