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Here Be Dragons: Illustrate an Early World Map

Identify the modern day cities as they appeared on Frederik de Wit’s Dutch Sea Atlas, created in 1654. Each correct answer will illustrate the map with images and text similar to those found on world maps of the medieval and Renaissance eras.
Each city is in the location as it appeared on De Wit's map. Some of those locations are fairly inaccurate.
To view De Wit's original map, click here.
To view a "sea creature" map that's completely bonkers, click here.
Quiz by dug28
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Last updated: April 28, 2021
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First submittedApril 19, 2021
Times taken28,673
Average score72.2%
Rating4.97
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City
Bergen
Buenos Aires
Cairo
City
Cartagena
Frankfurt
Havana
City
Istanbul
Lima
Lisbon
City
London
Manila
Mecca
City
Mexico City
Mombasa
Moscow
City
Naples
Santo Domingo
Tunis
+10
Level 75
Apr 19, 2021
Super cool and creative quiz!
+4
Level 51
Apr 19, 2021
Oh my gosh it hasn't been featured yet this is unprecedented!
+1
Level 76
Apr 24, 2021
Not any more! Delightful artwork :)
+1
Level 52
Apr 19, 2021
The Tashkent dot is horribly off-centered. Also, I like what happens when you type in Manila...
+5
Level 75
Apr 19, 2021
Yeah I asked Dug about this an he said it was because the cities were corresponding to the map he used from 1654 that obviously has mistakes because it is from so long ago.
+5
Level 84
Apr 19, 2021
Yes, De Wit's Tashkent is way off. I decided to replace it with a different city. It's fun to compare the original map with reality. :)
+2
Level 54
Apr 19, 2021
WoW, Liked this quiz
+1
Level 49
Oct 22, 2023
Mekka should be accepted for mecca
+3
Level 79
Apr 20, 2021
Quite interested in the reduction of Korea into Long Island 2. It's even odder since the Yellow Sea seems pretty accurate.
+1
Level 72
Jun 23, 2021
That might be Japan... Who knows?
+3
Level 54
Apr 20, 2021
Wow! This is beautuful! Once again a fantastic and artistic creation. Congratulations!
+2
Level 77
Apr 20, 2021
Completely beautiful and fantastic quiz that put me in a good mood before school. Nominated!
+9
Level 75
Apr 20, 2021
Now I finally see why the Americans claim their country is larger than China.

Great quiz dug!

+2
Level 84
Apr 20, 2021
Beautiful work dug, as always! Love these old-timey maps. Nominated :)
+3
Level 75
Apr 20, 2021
Early world maps were not very good. How did you choose the cities?

Also congrats on 200,000 takes

+4
Level 84
Apr 21, 2021
Thanks! Good question. I zoomed in on De Wit's map looking for modern day cities. Of course, Europe had quite a few, but I wanted a broad representation. From there it was just my personal choice, mostly trying to make the quiz challenging, but not too hard. I was surprised that I couldn't find one city that would work in the continental U.S. or Canada. India and China were also tough. Maybe someone else can find cities that should have been included. :)
+2
Level 69
Apr 20, 2021
Insanely original and beautiful quiz concept! Love the sea serpent in the South Atlantic threatening the ship!
+2
Level 75
Apr 20, 2021
Congrats on the feature! That was super quick.
+2
Level 87
Apr 20, 2021
Just splendid work
+6
Level 86
Apr 20, 2021
Love that you added Jetpunk fish.
+2
Level 74
Apr 21, 2021
It's a scarry sea monster :)
+3
Level 84
Apr 21, 2021
Always fun to sneak Jeppy into a quiz. :)
+1
Level 65
Jun 17, 2021
A cute yellow JetPunk fish.
+2
Level 84
Apr 20, 2021
Great work!
+2
Level 68
Apr 20, 2021
Amazing work dug! Awesome concept and map. Yet another well deserved feature! :D
+2
Level 88
Apr 20, 2021
Nobody left on board knew a thing about navigation when they got above Baja California or someone was trying to swindle investors on a land claim.
+3
Level 82
Apr 21, 2021
Cartagena, Colombia is a city well-worth visiting. Beautifully preserved colonial city, with immense curtain walls to protect it from pirate attack. A great surviving relic of this era in modern times.
+4
Level 71
Apr 21, 2021
Not gonna lie, I thought that those illustrations were actually the illustrations on the map until I saw the JetPunk fish :') Great quiz! I really just love how creative all your quizzes are :)
+1
Level 59
Apr 21, 2021
Wait, where is the fish???
+2
Level 84
Apr 21, 2021
Thank you! Drawing the pictures was my favorite part of making the quiz.
+3
Level 68
Apr 21, 2021
Neat drawings! I feel like Barranquilla could be a type in for Cartagena since it's bigger of the two and also nearby enough that the dot could correspond to it.
+2
Level 66
Apr 28, 2021
The default answer should be changed from Constantinople to Istanbul since present names of the cities are asked in this quiz.
+2
Level 84
Apr 28, 2021
You're right. Both names always worked as a type-in, but now Istanbul is the default answer.
+3
Level 73
Apr 28, 2021
This has to be one of the most creative quizes I've taken. Really nice work!
+2
Level 60
Apr 29, 2021
I'm just speechless

Sorry Dug, but I love the Map more than the quiz 😝

+1
Level 84
Apr 29, 2021
Thanks Swat! Don't tell anybody, but I feel the same way. :)
+3
Level 79
May 4, 2021
Very nice, five stars
+1
Level 79
Jun 17, 2021
Aarrggghh... I tried Cali for the city in Colombia..
+1
Level 79
Aug 18, 2022
Did that again!
+4
Level 50
Jun 17, 2021
Honestly, I am surprised on how good the map is for the time. Obviously by today's standards it is horrific, but it is fairly good for the lack of satellites, measuring tools, and communication in 1654. And just in general it must of been amazing and fascinating discovering all those new beautiful places and people at the time.
+3
Level 66
Jun 17, 2021
Why is Antarctica on this map? It wasn't discovered until 1820
+9
Level 84
Jun 17, 2021
Congratulations! You've discovered an Easter egg. That land mass is not Antarctica. It's Terra Australis. From wikipedia: Terra Australis (Latin for South Land) was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. The existence of Terra Australis was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that continental land in the Northern Hemisphere should be balanced by land in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here's a link to the wikipedia article.

+3
Level 71
Jun 17, 2021
Simply brilliant.
+3
Level 75
Jun 17, 2021
Dug as always the definition of quality over quantity 👏🏻

I love the bonus bonkers sea creature map too!

+3
Level 64
Jun 17, 2021
Awesome quiz! Love old maps
+1
Level 52
Jun 18, 2021
There are two Mombasas?
+3
Level 73
Jun 21, 2021
I've actually got this map, very cool quiz.
+3
Level 78
Jul 2, 2021
Nice quiz dug
+3
Level 52
Jul 24, 2021
It's not a dug28 quiz without Jeppy :)
+1
Level 81
Aug 21, 2021
I'm fascinated by "La Florida" on de Wit's map and all the named places. Are any of these real or totally imaginary?

(Given that there are identifiable places like Carolina, Virginia and so forth).

+2
Level 60
Aug 22, 2021
The ship between South America and Africa looks so peaceful until you guess Mecca.
+3
Level 66
Oct 8, 2021
Possibly the coolest quiz ever! I didn't do that well...but loved the pop-ups.
+2
Level 74
Nov 18, 2021
Fascinating and fun quiz! Another brilliant idea from you, thanks for making it!
+1
Level 58
Jul 14, 2023
I cant believe I misstypes Cartagena das Índias and Bergen AAAA so close
+1
Level 60
Oct 29, 2023
Would it be reasonable to accept Carthage for Tunis given this is an early world map?
+1
Level 75
Jan 25, 2024
Considering that Carthage was razed by the Romans around 146BC, it would have been long gone by the time this map was drawn in 1654...
+1
Level 46
Mar 10, 2024
I missed Cartagena. Thanks for reminding me of my wonderful time there.:)
+1
Level 72
Mar 20, 2024
Denmark has seen better days...