Detail from Martin Waldseemüller, Universalis Cosmographia, 1507, Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Two monsters appear on Waldseemüller’s Universalis Cosmographia—they stand partially hidden amid peoples in South Africa. The group, composed entirely of men, is clearly human but among them, near the back, are two monstrous creatures (see above). No monsters appear in the Americas on Waldseemüller’s map, and this is the case on other early maps of the Americas. Even when monsters appear in other regions, map and chartmakers did not place them in the Americas. On Carta Universal, La Cosa wrote “R. Got” and “R. Magot” (King Gog/King Magog) in the far Northeast of Asia. Both labels have an accompanying illumination that associates the kings with familiar monsters—Gog as king of Cynocephali (i.e., of the dog-headed peoples) and Magog as king of Blemmyae (i.e., of peoples with no heads), see below. If the early chart and mapmakers had wanted to insert monsters into the Americas, they could have done so. But the surviving charts and maps do not include monsters in the Americas.

Detail showing monsters in Asia, La Cosa, Carta Universal, Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de Defensa, Madrid.