Not everyone loves maps. My mum never did. FR may say he likes them but he never looks at them - and certainly never follows them even when he should! I inherited my own love of maps from my dad, I think. And I believe Mateo has inherited this same love - only he's taken it many giant leaps forward.
I love old maps. Ones that say, 'Here be monsters' - an indication of uncharted territories and which have sea serpents and great beasties rising from the depths. I love compasses and being able to locate myself to North, South, East or West. FR's parents were comical whilst staying at our house recently as their house obviously faces in completely the opposite direction to ours. They couldn't get used to seeing the sun rise and set in the 'wrong' place! I was quite taken by this concept...the sun was wrong in Andalucia!
Mateo spends hours creating new species, languages and habitats in a world several million years from now. He has it all quite clear. Our world and its countries are just recognisable but, just as we currently live on a planet whose continents and islands have merged and separated over the years, so our land masses continue to move, migrate and shift.
Pangaea - that view of the world where the tectonic plates were still all cosy and close - has fascinated and inspired many. Me too - an ex-jigsaw junkie - seeing where Africa and the United States might have fitted together, how they moved apart and seeing India travelling so far and finally bumping into Asia to form the Himalayas!
Isn't this an amazing animation of that process?
Well - until Mateo gives his permission, I can't show you where it'll all end in his opinion or what sort of creatures will inhabit the earth at that point. He did say he WILL give me access - just not now.
But he's granted permission to use a fantasy map he's created. This demonstrates his love of map-making. He's drawn many a fantasy map but this one I fell in love with. An obvious link to Tolkien and his many similarly-inspired 'followers' who have been inspired to think of alternative lands - Mateo is no exception. He's ploughing through 'The Silmarillion' with a great deal more dedication than I was ever able to give and has made great inroads into the concept of language development, reading really quite advanced books on the subject. He is thinking about a career in anthropology. It could well be a good choice.
That is, if his love of writing and creating maps and other worlds doesn't lead him to be the next George R.R. Martin, Michelle Paver, Walther Moers, David Brin..or even H.G.Wells - the latter one of Mateo's personal favourites.
There is something very beautiful about this.
Hopefully, he'll be persuaded to share more of his stuff...I'm very proud and impressed by what he has been doing.
Beautiful map - Clever boy - Mum has every reason to puff up with a lovely warm feeling of job well done.
ReplyDeleteWe both thank you for your kind comments, Annie! Still feeling warm and puffed up --- suppose it could be the weather though...!
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My two grandsons ages 10 and 8 love maps and so do I , they love following Grandad on his journeys, he works for Formula 1 and travels all the time, I love maps to see where I could go and use them when travelling. The idea that we were all much closer is fascinating, apparently Brazil never used to have a coast (something I read too)
ReplyDeleteA very clever boy , and a proud mum too :-)
How exciting! Formula 1 will get all over the world - and yes, maps help bring things closer.
DeleteCoastlines have changed radically over the past few million years...that would probably explain Brazil!
Thank you, Anne,
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Well done, Mateo. What a wonderful interest and skill to have.
ReplyDeleteI love looking at places on an atlas. I love knowing where places are in relation to others.
Sat Nav just doesn't do it for me!
Thank you Gaynor - I shall pass your comments on to Mateo! Glad you enjoy maps and atlases too - as for Sat Nav...well, I liked it when we had it, as long as we had the Dara O Briain's voice telling us where to go. Alas, it was stolen the very first week we arrived in Alcala la Real - obviously I realise now that someone really wanted us to stay!!
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Maps are so clever, and so beautiful, so I completely understand your fascination with them. It must have been amazing to be involved with mapping bits of the world for the first time. I suppose google earth holds similar interest for people today. Watching geographical features change in places you know, as you zoom out, is such fun.
ReplyDeleteMateo's world looks to be fascinating place. I love the detail, and the script, and am eager to know more about it. Tell him your followers want more ! Jxxx
Yes, they are wonderful. I was very tickled by Slartibartfast - planet designer in Hitchhiker's Guide as I'm sure you know - who was pleased with his Norwegian coast design. If I haven't already told Mateo about this, I must remember to!
DeleteI will tell him what you said - he's promised me more but a lot depends on his mood...he's exercising his teenage right to be awkward whenever he wants. He says he'll grow out of it.
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Mateo seems very clever and you must be so proud of him. He must have a vivid imagination as well to be thinking about what the earth will be like and the creatures inhabiting it in the future. Fantastic stuff.
ReplyDeleteI was never particularly interested in maps but loved globes. I had a small cheap tin one when I was quite young and it fascinated me. Over the years when I have come across them in shops, I always have the urge to stop and gaze at them.
Mateo really has a very vivid imagination which combines well with his interest in natural history. I think he'll be a wonderful anthropologist - just hope he can find the right sort of course and opportunities.
DeleteI love maps - but globes are included. I saw some beautiful ones made of marble once and fell absolutely in love with them. Very heavy...
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What a briliant map Mateo has drawn and such imagination too, look forward to seeing more of his artwork.
ReplyDeleteMy Mum loved maps and was the family navigator, she used to travel with my Dad on business as he was quite hopeless especially getting his lefts and rights mixed up, she would have loved google maps.
Glad you like Mateo's map - I think it has something very lovely about it and I know that the land he depicts is as well known to him as real places are to me.
DeleteI am the family navigator now, but my husband always questions me! He got lost driving from England to Italy - ended up in Belgium for six weeks!
As for Google map - absolutely the best thing ever!
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I love maps too - and have only just discovered that my 2nd son (38!) has developed the passion, so I now have great fun finding him interesting ones. He loves the reprints of old OS maps you can now buy for about £2.50 each on ebay - get one of a familiar town - go for a walk with it & see how things have changed!
ReplyDeleteI hope my second son develops a similar passion - his at the moment (11) are guns and weapons and all things unpleasant!
DeleteIt's a lovely idea to buy old maps and find out what has changed and what has not. I went with my sister a few years ago to the little village where we grew up - and were blown away by how LITTLE had changed, whilst the nearest city - Bradford - has changed radically several times and is now unrecognisable to me.
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As a big fan of maps myself, old new or even imaginary, I really enjoyed this post, Annie. Matteo's map is brilliant (I adored The Lord of the Rings, but never finished The Silmarillion) and I find it great that he has been inspired to exercise his imagination in this way. I love Google Earth too and even our satnav, but always have a road atlas with me as well.
ReplyDeleteMaps often appeal to imagination, I think, Perpetua, and I'm so glad you enjoyed this. Mateo pores over maps on the internet and draws lots of his own. We also have been all over the world using Google Earth - isn't that great? And even when I know exactly where we're going, I like to have a road map with me - just in case we get the urge to leave the beaten track!
DeleteAxxx