For example, in 1154 Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi drew a south-up map of Europe, Asia and northern Africa for his book the Tabula Rogeriana. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen in the centre ...

Accompanying the map were verses Putsch wrote in Latin. Speaking in the first person, “Queen Europe” pleas for unity and directly addresses Charles V, Holy Roman emperor and king of Spain ...

The Lenox globe wasn’t the only old European map, though, to feature beasties. The Ebstorf map, for instance, created in the 13th century, has all manner of animals in the south of Africa ...