Read a blog saying all fake maps are worthless but my 1860s California gold rush fantasy map is my favorite piece

Some guy on a forum last week claimed maps of imaginary places are just junk for kids. My 1860s gold rush fantasy map has rivers with gold flecks drawn in and a fake town called "New Eldorado" that never existed. Has anyone else got a fantasy map that gets more attention than any real one in their collection?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley8011mo ago

Read an article in a history magazine about how fantasy maps actually help people understand real geography better. The writer said imagining landscapes makes you pay closer attention to how rivers flow and mountains are placed. Your New Eldorado sounds like something a gold prospector might have actually named if things had gone different. I have a map of a fictional island chain in the Pacific that gets more compliments than anything printed by National Geographic. People stop and look at the details way longer than they ever do with a real map. There is something about a made-up place that makes folks want to explore it with their eyes.

butler.brian1mo ago

Feels like people are reading way too much into a hobby.