Cartography of Conviction: The History of Flat Earth Maps

Flat Earth Maps History: Cartographic Belief Beyond the Globe

While mainstream cartography has long embraced a spherical Earth, there exists a fascinating and persistent countertradition: Flat Earth maps. For centuries, maps reflecting a flat Earth cosmology have circulated in religious texts, pseudoscientific treatises, and even classroom walls. These maps are often dismissed by geographers. Nevertheless, they offer valuable insight into how cartography has been used. It has not only been used to represent space but also to advance ideology.

In this post, we explore the history of flat Earth maps. These include Babylonian world diagrams and 19th-century Zetetic cartography. We examine how these cartographic artifacts were shaped by theological, empirical, and conspiratorial forces. For historians of cartography, these maps serve as powerful reminders of how projection, purpose, and belief intersect.

1. Ancient Flat Earth Maps: Symbolic Cartographies of the Cosmos

The earliest known maps do not depict a globe. They show a cosmological flat Earth worldview. This worldview is rooted in religious and mythological frameworks.

Babylonian World Map (Imago Mundi, ca. 6th century BCE)

This clay tablet is held in the British Museum. It presents the world as a flat disk encircled by a “bitter river” (the ocean). Babylon sits at the center, with labeled regions extending outward. Though schematic and symbolic, this map is a key artifact in early flat Earth cartography.

Early Hebrew-Christian Cosmological Diagrams

Judeo-Christian cosmologies often imagined the Earth as a plane beneath a vaulted firmament. While not navigational, diagrams inspired by the Book of Genesis and later Christian exegesis. Like those found in Bede’s De Natura Rerum (8th c.)—depict the Earth in flat, tripartite form. These influenced the development of the T-O map.

2. Medieval Flat Earth Models: The T-O and Mappa Mundi Traditions

Despite the misconception that medieval Europeans widely believed in a flat Earth, this belief was not prevalent. The period’s most popular maps retained flat cartographic formats for theological and symbolic reasons.

The T-O Map

Its name comes from its schematic representation (a T inscribed within an O). This map style divides the known world into Asia, Europe, and Africa. Jerusalem is at the center. Though not literal geography, T-O maps were reproduced in manuscripts across Europe.

Hereford Mappa Mundi (c. 1300)

One of the most detailed surviving medieval flat Earth maps, the Hereford Mappa Mundi depicts more than 500 locations. These are set within a theologically framed flat world. Paradise lies at the map’s edge. The visual orientation (east at top) reflects spiritual priority over spatial accuracy.

3. Early Modern Transition: Spherical Earth vs. Flat Symbolism

The 15th-century reintroduction of Ptolemy’s Geographia was pivotal. The rise of nautical cartography also played a crucial role. Together, these developments gradually replaced symbolic flat maps with mathematically precise projections.

Nevertheless, flat representations persisted:

Portolan charts remained largely planar for navigation.
Cosmographical woodcuts continued to depict geocentric and occasionally flat Earth models alongside increasingly globular world maps.

By the time Gerardus Mercator released his 1569 projection, the globe had won the empirical battle. Nonetheless, flat Earth visual traditions endured in pockets of religious and philosophical resistance.

4. The Rise of Zetetic Cartography: Flat Earth Maps in the 19th Century

The modern flat Earth movement emerged in the 1800s, with new maps designed explicitly to counter the globe. This era marks the birth of what scholars now call Zetetic cartography. These are maps based on the empirical claims of flat Earth theory.

**Samuel Rowbotham’s Maps (Zetetic Astronomy, 1865)**

Rowbotham’s seminal work proposed a flat Earth centered on the North Pole. It suggested that the Sun and Moon move in circular paths above. His diagrams, though crude, laid the groundwork for a visual model that redefined the azimuthal equidistant projection as literal geography.

Gleason’s New Standard Map of the World (1892)

Alexander Gleason’s iconic map, patented in the U.S. (No. 497,917), updated Rowbotham’s model using professional drafting. It depicts:

A flat, circular Earth centered on the North Pole
Antarctica as an encompassing ice wall
Time zones arranged in radial symmetry

Though it employs a legitimate projection used by the U.S. Geological Survey, Gleason’s map presents it as the true layout of Earth, not a projection of a sphere. Today, this map is the most reproduced image in flat Earth visual culture.

5. The Voliva Era: Flat Earth Maps in Education and Propaganda

In the early 20th century, Wilbur Glenn Voliva, a religious leader in Zion, Illinois, institutionalized flat Earth maps. Voliva banned globes from local schools and commissioned large-scale maps consistent with Rowbotham-Gleason models.

Cartographic Features of Voliva’s Classroom Maps

Annotated with scripture
Ice wall emphasized as a theological barrier
Rejection of gravity, heliocentrism, and orbital motion

These maps were pedagogical, reinforcing biblical literalism and distrust of mainstream science. Voliva’s efforts highlight how maps can act as tools of indoctrination, not just orientation.

6. Cold War Era to NASA Skepticism: The Conspiratorial Turn

The advent of satellite imagery, especially photos of Earth from space (e.g., Apollo 17’s “Blue Marble,” 1972), should have rendered flat Earth theory obsolete. Instead, it triggered a new wave of conspiracy-driven cartography.

Anti-NASA Maps and Antarctic Conspiracies

Post-1960s flat Earth maps began incorporating:

Claims that Antarctica is off-limits under a global treaty
Allegations that satellite imagery is fabricated
Misrepresented flight paths as “proof” of a flat plane

Maps from this period recycled the Gleason model but layered in new political and scientific mistrust.

7. Flat Earth Maps in the Internet Age

The digital era allowed flat Earth maps to flourish in new formats—interactive, animated, and globally disseminated.

High-Resolution Flat Earth Map Replications

Digital versions of the Gleason map circulate widely on:

YouTube (e.g., “Flat Earth Clock” animations)
Reddit (r/flatearth)
Personal blogs with downloadable PDFs and time zone overlays

Experimental Flat Earth Projections

Recent flat Earth mapping includes:

Bipolar flat Earth maps
“Pac-Man Earth” theories (edge-wrapping shortcuts)
Rectangular or toroidal layouts

Though inconsistent with geography, these digital creations underscore the adaptability of pseudocartographic thinking when untethered from empirical standards.

8. Cartographic Critique: Why Flat Earth Maps Fail

From a cartographer’s perspective, flat Earth maps, particularly the azimuthal equidistant model—are deeply flawed when used as geographic representations.

Known Issues:

Severe distortion in southern latitudes: Australia, South America, and Africa are drastically oversize.
Sunlight paths don’t match observed seasons or day lengths
Lunar eclipses can’t be explained without invoking complex ad hoc models
Flight distances and durations conflict with flat map geometries

Professional cartography, with its rigorous reliance on coordinate systems, projection theory, and observational data, consistently invalidates flat Earth mapping claims.

9. Why Flat Earth Maps Still Matter in Cartographic History

Despite their inaccuracies, flat Earth maps are important within the history of cartographic thought.

They show:

The rhetorical power of projection: How legitimate projections like azimuthal equidistant can be reframed ideologically
The symbolic use of spatial representation: Echoing medieval and theological cosmologies
The persistence of belief over measurement: When maps are used to confirm rather than challenge worldview

For historians of cartography, flat Earth maps are not marginal. They are central to understanding how maps encode cultural, religious, and epistemological assumptions.

Key Historical Maps to Explore Further

Map Title	Creator	Date	Notable Features
Imago Mundi (Babylonian World Map)	Unknown	ca. 6th century BCE	Flat Earth disk, river/ocean border
Hereford Mappa Mundi	Unknown cleric	c. 1300	Theological flat Earth with paradise at top
T-O Maps (Various Manuscripts)	Medieval scribes	7th–14th centuries	Asia-Europe-Africa, Jerusalem-centered
Zetetic Astronomy Diagrams	Samuel Rowbotham	1865	Flat Earth with North Pole center
Gleason’s Map	Alexander Gleason	1892	Patent-based, flat model with time zones
Zion Flat Earth Classroom Map	Wilbur Voliva’s Zion Schools	c. 1910s–1930s	Scriptural annotations, educational use

Flat Rarth Maps — Cable and Wireless Great Circle Map

Conclusion: Flat Earth Maps as Mirrors of Belief

Flat Earth maps have never reflected geographic reality. They have always revealed something else. These maps show how humans use visual tools to defend belief. From ancient cosmologies to modern conspiracies, these maps illustrate that cartography is about ideology. It is equally about information.

For cartographers and historians alike, the flat Earth map provides a cautionary tale. The form of a map alone doesn’t guarantee truth. The context—and intent—matters most.