Open AccessFrom Vínland to Jerusalem in the Beatus Galaxy: The Impact of Maps on the European Mentality in the 11th Century
Author(s) -
Leif Gren
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
current swedish archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.256
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 2002-3901
pISSN - 1102-7355
DOI - 10.37718/csa.2013.11
Subject(s) - point (geometry) , history , tipping point (physics) , geography , geometry , mathematics , engineering , electrical engineering
From c. 500 to 1000 AD the Atlantic Ocean was ex- plored further and further to the west, all the way to Vínland. But why did the Norse expansion lose en- ergy in the 11th century at the same time as European attention was directed to Jerusalem? The explana- tion given in this article is that the tipping point was a shift from a world view based on “horizontal see- ing” through a network of places to a “vertical see- ing” through maps.