Quote Originally Posted by Karro View Post
Okay, so this is very tangential topic to mapping... but I got to thinking today about how culture and technology interact with the sorts of things we'd put on a map... i.e. I'm interested in some other aspects of world-building.

One thought, in particular, I've been pondering today regards how advances in technology and knowledge will affect what we see on maps and what the imaginary people that inhabit those lands think about their world. For instance, by the time an imaginary peoples reaches something of a rennaissance level of technology and culture, is there any room left on a local/regional map for mysteries, "haunted forests", "here there be dragons", or other unexplored or wild lands? Or do we have to journey to a distant and unknown continent for these things?

What about Gunpowder? How does is that going to affect these things? Are societies with access to gunpowder inevitably going to look more modern, or do feudal systems and monarchies evolve to meet these challenges?

What do you guys think?
It all depends on your world - how big is it, how expansive are the oceans between continents, how is your climate. Consider that the "New World" was being explored in the 16th century, while European trading ships were in Asia, yet it wasn't until the late 18th century that Hawaii was discovered. Antarctica wasn't discovered until the 19th century and not explored until the 20th.

If the Pacific Ocean was bigger, you could have an island the size of Australia where Hawaii is, yet the distance is so great its existence could still be entirely unknown to the rest of the world.

Climate, vast mountain ranges, huge oceans all work to hide those unknown parts that is left for discovery.

Regarding gunpowder, consider that the Portugeuse introduced gunpowder weapons to Japan in the late 16th century and were being used at war for the next almost 3 centuries, yet the primary arms and armor pretty much was the same as that from before the introduction powder.

Think the "Last Samurai", when western-trained Japanese forces much like armies of the west, were fighting the indigenous samurai, yet the latter hardly changed at all from what would be worn to war four centuries earlier.

Its because of the nature of Japanese culture and the strength of the Shogunate, that this happened at all.

Until the 1870's Japan was barely affected technologically despite the existence of gunpowder.

It really depends on your world and allowed technologies as to how it affects these issues.

GP