The Persistence of a Phantom: A Geospatial and Multi-temporal Investigation of Mayda Island (1367–1914)

The Great Ocean, which comprised the known world until the end of the Middle Ages, and the remote lands at the edge of the world, were the best places to locate imaginary places. Mayda island is not the most famous, but it is the oldest with about 500 years of history.

This paper aims to investigate the position of Mayda through a geospatial and multitemporal analysis. A hundred papers and documents have been examined to understand how the myth and increasingly scientific knowledge of our world has coexisted over the centuries. Mayda could serve as a case study to investigate, using a geostatistical approach, the approach of cartographers and navigators in the history of cartography.</p> <p>Key policy highlights</p><p>The history of cartography is full of reports about legendary places, ephemeral lands and phantom islands perceived as real because they appear on maps.</p><p>Geostatistical analysis can contribute to the history of cartography as an additional method to better understand the origin and evolution of these ‘bizarre’ geographical elements.</p><p>To make geostatistics effective in this field of study, it is imperative to continue investing in the digitization of the world's cartographic heritage, possibly through public and open source platforms, to reach the widest possible readership.</p><p></p> <p>The history of cartography is full of reports about legendary places, ephemeral lands and phantom islands perceived as real because they appear on maps.</p> <p>Geostatistical analysis can contribute to the history of cartography as an additional method to better understand the origin and evolution of these ‘bizarre’ geographical elements.</p> <p>To make geostatistics effective in this field of study, it is imperative to continue investing in the digitization of the world's cartographic heritage, possibly through public and open source platforms, to reach the widest possible readership.</p>