This illustration incorporates familiar map elements such as 'wind cherubs’, the ‘compass rose’ and ‘fleur-de-lis’, and some of the marine species that may have inspired the sea monsters you often see lurking in the waters…

Maps are one of the most important of all human inventions, allowing us to navigate and visualise the unknown, and when we think of old maps the first that often come to mind are examples from the period known as ‘The Age of Discovery’ (or 'The Age of Exploration') during which European seafarers explored and conquered regions across the world from the 15th to the 17th century.