“Over the centuries, the high seas have served as a blank canvas for cartographers’ worst nightmares. They have dotted the oceans with a whole crypto-zoo of island-sized whales, deathly seductive mermaids, giant sea serpents, and many more - a whole panoply of heraldic horrors.
As varied as this marine bestiary is, mapmakers have settled on a single, favourite species for land-based beastliness: the octopus.”[via The Presurfer]
(click the image to learn more about the history of mapmakers and the land octopus)
(via fuckyeahcartography)