As we’ve all learned in school, 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only 30% is solid ground. What if everything was reversed? What if every land mass was a body of water, and vice versa?
This map explores that question, and it is fantastic in at least three definitions of that word: fanciful, implausible and marvelous. The interior of China is marked by a spouting whale, a sailboat ploughs the waves of the Brazilian Ocean, a school of fish traverse the watery wastes of Siberia, large cities dominate places rarely frequented by people in this universe…
The oceans in this inverted world are the Great Asian Ocean (the world’s largest), the African, Brazilian, United and Antarctica Oceans. These are punctuated by islands that in our world are lakes:
• Baikal Island: surely a mountainous place, as in our world it is the deepest, most voluminous fresh water lake on the planet, containing 20% of the world’s liquid fresh surface water.
• To the west of this vast ocean, close to the Mediterranean land mass, lies the unnamed Caspian Island – to the east thereof is the tiny (and if the reversal is symmetrical, rapidly sinking… or should that be emerging? Can’t work that one out) Aral Island.
• A similar island, unnamed in the map, perforates Africa; this must be Lake Victoria, or rather Victoria Island.
• Other similar land masses are the Great Islands, substituting for the Great Lakes… In this map, perhaps intentionally, they look like a dolphin doing a show jump.
The seas are merely dotted with boats and fish, but 70% of the planet’s surface is now walkable, arable, livable, mappable:
• The Gulfstream Mountains form the backbone of the North Atlantic States (I’m not sure whether the Eiffel Tower close to the African shore is part of them).
• The South Atlantic Kingdom is marked by Giraffes galloping near the Brazilian shore, a cactus and a burning sun. An important population centre is St. Helena City, close to our world’s British island dependency of Saint Helena.
• The narrows between the Brazilian and Antarctica Oceans is dominated by Drake City.
• At the western shores of the Brazilian Ocean lies the South Pacific Kingdom.
• To the north, on the Eastern shore, is Mexico Land (in our Gulf of Mexico).
• Bermuda City seems to form a separate entity from the North Atlantic States.
• Labrador City lies between the United Ocean and the Greenland Sea (shouldn’t that be frozen?)
• Celtic Land lies just to the south of English Lake.
• Surely, the Mediterranean Kingdom is a pivotal player, located between the western outlet of the Great Asian Ocean and the African Ocean – with a land bridge extending towards the Indian Kingdom.
• Flocks of sheep and windmills dominate the vast expanses of land towards the Australian Sea.
• The Philippine Kingdom rules the Far East, punctuated by the Japan, Taiwan and (erh) Philippine Lakes.
• On the far northern shores of the Great Asian Ocean, finally, lie Arctic Land and the East Siberian Kingdom.
This map, sent to me by Phil Rodgers, was made by Vlad Gerasimov, a graphics enthusiast and digital artist who designs and provides wallpapers and other stuff. Look for his website at vladstudio.com.
Brilliant!
Comment by Alan — July 15, 2007 @ 5:10 am
[...] 148 - Oh, Inverted World « strange maps. I subscribe to the RSS for the strange maps site. Sometimes what they find is just weird, but others it is mind-bending, like this one. [...]
Pingback by Fun, and strange at homefries.org — July 15, 2007 @ 5:37 am
Click on the map above to see it in full; as it is, everything east of about the Malaysian Bay is covered by the bar to the right.
Otherwise, interesting. Do the mountain chains correspond to deep-sea trenches in our world?
Comment by Darrel Jones — July 15, 2007 @ 6:52 am
There would be pretty big continent then.
It would be intresting to see, what kind of climates there would be: the whole North Pole would be a big block of land, but would it be so cold also..
Comment by cannibalmushroom — July 15, 2007 @ 10:23 am
What a very interesting map. Makes one think in a whole new direction. The artwork is funky and fun!
Comment by Bobbie — July 15, 2007 @ 12:20 pm
This is great. But where’s Atlantis, the inverted world’s greatest city on a hill?
Comment by Andrew — July 15, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
Totally. I spent a few minutes trying to find Atlantis too!
Comment by Paul Connolley — July 15, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
[...] Item. [...]
Pingback by DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » Oh, Inverted World — July 15, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Now what are the dotted lines? Are they borders or roads since it looks like they could be either. Also canal construction would be a occupation of many of these nations, especially the Mediterranean Kingdom.
Comment by David Schwartz — July 15, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Yet another map - that does NOT include New Zealand … WTF …? There’s like 4.2 million people down here …. Grrrrrr ;-(
Comment by Lance — July 15, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
I’m puzzled by the name “United Ocean” — most of North America is *not* in the US, and there’s nothing particularly obvious about this ocean that it should get United as a name.
Otherwise, I love the rendering style.
Comment by rek — July 16, 2007 @ 12:21 am
Odd that they cut most of the Pacific from the map. In an inverted Earth, most of the land mass would be in the Pacific, a single huge continent with only a very few lakes here and there.
The map should be centred on the Pacific.
Most of these continent would be extremely arid in the centre.
Comment by Xavier — July 16, 2007 @ 1:24 am
[...] Very cool map. Bonus points for The Shins reference. Via A Little Ludwig Goes A Long Way. [...]
Pingback by Oh, Inverted World » AlexHopmann.com — July 16, 2007 @ 6:07 am
this is really creepy. What happens when we die. I do not like to be a lost ghost for sure
sofia
http://sofiawinterborn.wordpress.com/2007/07/14/sofiacan-we-get-lost-after-this-life-on-our-way-to-heaven-after-we-have-died/
Comment by A Woman — July 16, 2007 @ 6:38 am
Hey #11, you’re bothered by the United Ocean but didn’t seem to care about the naming of the Brazilian Ocean even though there are another 10 or so countries in South America. You must be Canadian.
Comment by dez — July 16, 2007 @ 8:50 am
15 - I would have been happy with ‘American Ocean’. Would ‘Federative Republic Ocean’ make more sense than ‘Brazilian’?
Comment by rek — July 16, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
I’d like to see a fantasy map of the world where all the heights and depths are exactly reversed (ie. Everest is the deepest point in the ocean, the Marianas Trench is the highest range of mountains), but there is still the same volume of global water. Where would the coastlines be?
Comment by owen — July 16, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
I wonder if there are geological reasons why this would be unlikely to be how a planet “actually” looked. The shapes of the landmasses look unnatural to me, but since I am not familiar with any other planets that have both continents and oceans I could be very much off.
Comment by Isabel — July 16, 2007 @ 2:42 pm
Did the Mediterranean Kingdom build a land bridge to cut the Asian and African oceans apart? Wouldn’t this intentionally disrupt shipping? In this world, canals only make sense where in our world there is a narrow strip of water. A canal at Gibraltar, for instance, would save boats thousands of miles of travel.
Comment by Clark — July 16, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
The “Mediterranean” Kingdom has a subtly odder name than the “United Ocean”.
Comment by Eric — July 16, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
There’s a (relatively) serious attempt at modelling this kind of world here: Inversia.
Some maps of other worlds by the same artist, which may be of interest, here.
Note: some pages, including the Inversia one, include some vaguely NSFW artwork.
Comment by butsuri — July 16, 2007 @ 7:24 pm
Strange, and cool too.
Comment by coolness57 — July 16, 2007 @ 11:53 pm
[...] 148 - Oh, Inverted World « strange maps What if the world was 30% water and 70% land? (tags: fantasy maps cartography water) [...]
Pingback by The Voice of A » links for 2007-07-17 — July 17, 2007 @ 6:37 am
20/Eric - Mediterranean means ‘middle land’ doesn’t it? Seems to be the perfect name as it has oceans in three directions and very narrow connections to the main continents.
Comment by rek — July 17, 2007 @ 11:16 am
Love this map! Really cool.
Comment by Nicole — July 17, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
Great man…..super coool map……… :)
Comment by Prabha Govind — July 18, 2007 @ 6:56 am
[...] über Nationen, Städte, usw. dieser Welt gemacht hat. Gefunden habe ich diese Karte auf “Strange Maps“. Und auf diese Seite bin ich durch Ehrensenf aufmerksam [...]
Pingback by Inverted World « Stargazers Blog — July 18, 2007 @ 7:23 am
Rek: I understand that to mean “in the middle OF land.” :)
Comment by Eric — July 18, 2007 @ 7:27 am
Would R’lyeh be the capital of South Pacific Kingdom?
Comment by Ludwig — July 18, 2007 @ 1:23 pm
hi strange maps,
i’m still interested in putting together a coffee table book. visit our publishing blog. drop me a line!
Comment by Mark Long — July 18, 2007 @ 8:43 pm
[...] 148 - Oh, Inverted World [image] As we’ve all learned in school, 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only 30% is solid ground. […] [...]
Pingback by Top Posts « WordPress.com — July 18, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
Portuguese artist Jaime Braz painted a lovely map of an inverted Europe- http://jpob.no.sapo.pt/q2.htm
Comment by Bsmith — July 19, 2007 @ 1:17 am
[...] if… Earth’s topography was reversed so that continents were oceans and the oceans were continents? Pretty cool. I’m trying to [...]
Pingback by mlarson.org » — July 19, 2007 @ 4:45 am
[...] [found at Strange Maps] [...]
Pingback by Never Sea Land » Blog Archive » Oh inverted world — July 19, 2007 @ 5:54 am
[...] E o Oceano Brasílico. [...]
Pingback by O mundo como ele é — July 19, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
[...] remaining 30% is ground. What if this was inverted? Cool map I found via strangemaps.wordpress.com. Click here for the map. This entry was written by D and posted on July 19, 2007 at 8:45 pm and filed under Geography. [...]
Pingback by smoky/glass » Inverted World — July 19, 2007 @ 6:47 pm
So cool!
Comment by Elyene — July 20, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
So cool
Comment by Elyene — July 20, 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Apparently the Mormon’s Salt Lake Temple moved down to Drake City at the southern tip of the Brazilian Ocean. It’s a miracle!
Comment by lyceum — July 20, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
you are writing about strange maps, that`s interesting.
But the whole world is trange nowadays according to me, hahaha
I myself walk the line on the internet everyday.
big time greetings to you from sofia
http://sofiawinterborn.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/sofiai-walk-the-line-everyday-on-the-internet/
Comment by A Woman — July 21, 2007 @ 1:06 pm
[...] Como todos sabemos la tierra está cubierta por 70% de agua y 30% de tierra, que pasaría si fuese al revés? [...]
Pingback by LINKOLOGÍA McDonald’s Y LOS SIMPSON’S « — July 21, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
Stop spamming your blog here, Sofia.
Comment by rek — July 22, 2007 @ 8:37 am
Very cool indeed. And delightfully random.
Comment by Brian — July 23, 2007 @ 9:12 pm
[...] 30th, 2007 Un 70% de la tierra esta cubierto por agua ¿qué pasaría si fuera al revés?. Lo primero que me viene a la mente es que sería un mundo mucho más contaminado y con más [...]
Pingback by Mapa del mundo invertido « el50 — July 30, 2007 @ 8:21 am
[...] came across this map of the world on which water and land have been inverted. The result if a world on which we [...]
Pingback by Inverted world map | alistair.pott — July 31, 2007 @ 4:03 pm
Wow…wonderful!
information:I’m Korean…
Comment by Dot Anderson — August 1, 2007 @ 7:13 am
I like the map so much. Its like the map in world of war craft, just that its real. Draw more like this, I support you. P.S. mentally.
Comment by William — August 9, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
The combination of brown and black is great. Not too much color makes it easy for the eyes. Simply love it. Two thumbs up.
Comment by Yap — August 9, 2007 @ 12:42 pm
I have read a short story featuring a world like this. There were developments such as to reclaim land along what is the Florida inlet and there was a Gibraltar canal built to link the great African and European/Asian oceans. Paris was on the coast off where Marseilles is in our world. I think the story was written by Frank Herbert but I might be wrong and I can find no trace of it on the internet.
Comment by Kmthorpe — August 14, 2007 @ 8:20 am
What about Lake Eyre in Australia?
Comment by Benjamin — August 15, 2007 @ 4:52 am
How come none of the new cities are by the coast, like you would expect?
Comment by SciencePunk — August 15, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
A similar map constitutes the artwork L’Inversion du Monde by Richard Purdy, a mosaic floor with accompanying mirrored globe at Cirque Éloize (formerly École nationale du cirque) in the Old Port area of Montreal.
Comment by Matt — August 24, 2007 @ 4:04 am
[...] Map of the World if land were water and vice-versa. [...]
Pingback by Some Random Thoughts « Chauncey Hickenbottom — September 6, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
good work….though u could have improved it a bit more with some more thinking..
Comment by saurabh — September 17, 2007 @ 5:12 pm
A map like this was done as part of the Epic of Aerth, a campaign setting by gary gygax for the short lived & ill starred Dangerous Journeys game set in the early 90’s.
Comment by zagyg — October 7, 2007 @ 10:09 pm
another similar map was drawn by Chinese artist Hong Hao, as part of his fictional “Selected Scriptures” atlas :
http://www.artbeatus.com/artists/HongHao/HH-060.htm
there are a lot of interesting strange maps there (like this one: http://www.artbeatus.com/artists/HongHao/HH-062.htm)
Comment by Mitia — November 25, 2007 @ 10:30 am
And whatever happened to the canadian sea, praytell?
Comment by Ethan — December 15, 2007 @ 1:04 am
Eh, how would the tectonic plates work out, exactly? I’m assuming the continents started out separate and merged like they are in the map.
Comment by Anonymous — February 2, 2008 @ 8:55 pm
[...] 148 - Oh, Inverted World [...]
Pingback by LOIS » Blog Archive » Just Imagine — September 18, 2008 @ 5:04 pm
Hey, Look at the photos of my new emo haircut
on http://tinyurl.com/5bts22
Comment by emoboy — October 24, 2008 @ 9:08 pm
[...] I also took a look at Table of Contents for WordPress plugins. It was splendid to get a lot from 148 - Oh¸ Inverted World. Click a Day Stats Refresh is worth a read. how to write a wordpress plugin shouldn’t be [...]
Pingback by Blog Roundup for the 14th of July 2007 :: Christopher Ross — October 27, 2008 @ 1:50 am