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Caption: The world known to European scholars in about 1350 as transposed on a modern map

Much of the geographical knowledge in the Middle Ages dated back to the classical Greeks with various accounts, such as the Viking’s in northern seas and Marco Polo’s travels in the Far East during the 13th century, added in. Maps published up to the time of Christopher Columbus’ discoveries from 1492 remained essentially as shown. There was no suspicion amongst Europeans, Asians and Africans that there might be other continents. Map from Ridpath’s Cyclopedia, 1885.