According to legend, when map makers didn’t know what a particular area was like, they would write ‘here be dragons’ or ‘hic sunt dracones’ if they were Romans (or went to Eton). In fact there’s only one obvious instance of this being true, and that’s on a globe, not on a map. So when people tell you olde worlde mappe makers used dragons as a get out of jail free card, you can shoot them down by saying that it’s only true of the Hunt Lennox Globe from the 16th century. (Come here for deconstruction, stay for obscure pieces of general knowledge).
What did appear on old maps though, were pictures of all kinds of weird, wonderful, and fearsome looking beasts, including one or two dragon like creatures. Many of these things we can now recognise as not very accurate depictions of rare or exotic animals. Because the map makers themselves were reliant on descriptions of places and creatures that they weren’t personally familiar with, and we’re all familiar with how descriptions get a bit distorted when passed from person to person.
Looking at pictures of strange toothy or heavily tusked beasts was no doubt alarming to those who were able to examine those early maps, but those same creatures were not so frightening to those who already lived with them (certain exceptions allowed), people who lived in Norway could have told us that Walruses were alright really – just don’t go hassling them and they’ll leave you alone. Our instinct should always be to speak first to the people who live with what is unknown to us, don’t trust the map makers over those with direct or lived experience of the unknown.
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