In 1587, Italian cartographer Urbano Monte created a world map with a unique perspective centred in the North Pole. This map is from one of the 60 pages of that work. Monte’s knowledge of Japan was apparently sourced from a Japanese delegation he had met in Milan, Italy in 1585. Monte is said to have laid out the islands in a horizontal fashion, according to his unique perspective, which differs from that of the modern globe we are used to. Credit: LIVESCIENCE