"The "Black Rock" refers to Rupes Nigra, a phantom island believed to be located at the North Pole, described by the cartographer Gerardus Mercator as a large magnetic rock that supposedly explained why compasses point north. This concept originated from a lost work titled "Inventio Fortunata" and appeared on maps during the 16th and 17th centuries"
It's an interesting hole to dive down cause this depiction of the north pole is shown on all kinds of maps before the 1800s. Many ancient cultures show a Blackrock at the pole with 4 islands surrounding it. They also show islands that currently aren't on today's maps.
"The "Black Rock" refers to Rupes Nigra, a phantom island believed to be located at the North Pole, described by the cartographer Gerardus Mercator as a large magnetic rock that supposedly explained why compasses point north. This concept originated from a lost work titled "Inventio Fortunata" and appeared on maps during the 16th and 17th centuries"
Incidentally, I'm currently watching Lost and it seems to be inspired by this story.
It's an interesting hole to dive down cause this depiction of the north pole is shown on all kinds of maps before the 1800s. Many ancient cultures show a Blackrock at the pole with 4 islands surrounding it. They also show islands that currently aren't on today's maps.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=rupris%20negra%20maps&ko=-1&ia=images&iax=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FXsaSumtirxfYndQnbh0TYcKXKOuo7CFhMDutNFK0bjI.jpg%3Fwidth%3D960%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D493a1fc1819b7b7c29d8512990db26e3e7997b01