Theology and Geography.

Throughout the Middle Ages, Europeans' notions of their own place on the globe continued to be shaped not only by observation of the world around them but also by religious considerations. Nowhere is Christian theology's impact on European geographical thought more apparent than in the medieval tradition of the so-called T-O maps. These maps placed the city of Jerusalem, the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, at the center of the world. Their makers customarily aligned these maps such that east was placed at the top since according to Scripture the Garden of Eden had been located at the eastern edge of the world (Genesis 2:8). The T-O maps portrayed the three continents known to medieval Europeans (Europe, Asia, and Africa) as distinct landmasses separated by bodies of water that collectively formed a T...