The Bauche Map of 1737
Phillip Bauche was a French geographer of the 18th century who also drew a map that clearly
shows Antarctica except that Bauche's map shows Antarctica two separate land masses, with
detailed shorelines (fig.3). For many years the map was generally considered to be wrong because
when Antarctica was discovered it actually looked nothing what Bauche had drawn.
Then in 1958 a seismic survey of Antarctica was carried out which surprisingly showed that
Antarctica was indeed two archipelago islands covered by a thick layer of ice that made it appear
as only one land mass and not only that, but that the general topography of the lands beneath the
ice matches the drawings on the Bauche map in every detail. So how on earth this can be in any
way possible? This map means that Bauche was in possession of a correct map showing
Antarctica 100 years before it was discovered and not only that, but without any ice on it.
Antarctica has not been in an ice free condition for a minimum of at least 10,000 years and
many scientists believe that the period of time to be more like several million years.
Fig.3The Franco Rosselli map of 1508.
Franco Rosselli was a renowned Florentine cartographer of the 15th century who created a
relatively small but richly illustrated copperplate engraving, hand colored on Vellum, measuring
just 6 x 11 inches (fig.4).The piece is now kept in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
At the time Rosselli created the map, cartography was still a relatively new and experimental
art which makes the revelations in his world map even more amazing. The maps depiction of
Antarctica is a work of great accuracy and even names the area quite specifically as Antarticus.
Fig.4