Nowadays, and for the past five centuries, since the introduction of the heliocentric
globe deception, all world maps and explorers have depicted and described the North Pole
and surrounding region as being nothing but an arbitrary point in a semi-frozen tundra.
Previous to this, however, depictions and descriptions of the North Pole and surrounding
regions in world maps and ancient explorers' accounts were very different.
Firstly, before the 16th century, the North Pole was never once shown or thought to be just some
random ambiguous point amidst a low-solidity arctic ocean as it is now. Instead, the North Pole was
universally described and depicted from diverse cultures all across the Earth as being a gigantic,
magnetic mountain situated directly below Polaris. The prevailing belief was that
compass needles the world over were actually pointing to a huge,
lodestone mountain made of magnetite at the pole. In contrast to today's prevailing belief that
compass needles are pointing to some constantly moving magnetic field generated by hypothetical
molten metal existing at the center of a fantastical globe Earth. While neither claim can be
confirmed or denied without independent exploration and experimentation, it should be noted that no
where in nature can we find molten metal which retains any significant magnetic properties once
heated past the curie point, let alone create some convoluted, constantly moving dipolar field
as is claimed by proponents of the fantasy ball Earth. Ancient Buddhists Vedic and Jain
traditional cosmologies all state that at the North Pole magnetic center point of Earth exists
a circular mountain of magnetite called Mount Meru. Pyronic and Sumerian traditions also referred
to this place calling it Mount Sumeru. In ancient Iran they spoke of Mount Harabarazati with a
celestial spring on its highest peak in the realm of the stars. In early Chinese writings
there is Mount Kunlun with a bronze pillar of heaven at the summit where the immortals dwell,
often also called the Pearl Mountain, a paradise home of four great rivers around which the
heavens revolve. The Turkmen tribes of southern Turkistan told of a copper pillar that marks
the navel of the Earth. The Mongols rode of Mount Sumer with the Zambu tree on its summit.
The bariats of Siberia talked of Mount Sumer with the North Pole star fastened to its summit.
The Siberian Dalmix spoke of a mountain lake from which four rivers flow to the points of the
compass. The Egyptians rode of the mound of the first time which was the first land to appear
from the waters and is the dwelling place of the High God, the source of light. The Muslims
rode of Kaaf and the Zoroastrians rode of Guernagar, the world encircling mountains.
The Navajos spoke of encircled mountain which was surrounded by four directional mountains.
The Dogan tribe of Nigeria told of a cosmic pillar spanning 14 worlds which was the
roof post of the house of the High God, Amma. The Warau Indians of the Orinoco Delta in
Venezuela speak of a cosmic axis extending above the center of their earth disc.
Ancient Greek mythology referred to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods. The ancient
Germans told of Ermensul, a universal column which sustains everything.
The Norse Eda spoke of Asgard, the Berg of the Gods, rising in the center of Midgard,
the circular earth. Ptolemy recounted a legend involving magnetic islands which exerted such
strong attraction that ships with metal nails were held in place and unable to leave.
In the Arabic legend, one thousand and one nights, a magnetic mountain pulls all the nails right
out of their ship causing it to fall apart and sink. The second tallest mountain in Tanzania
is even named Mount Meru after its primordial partner at the pole. Richard Thompson wrote,
In many traditions, the world mountain is identified symbolically with some local mountain.
This is illustrated by Mount Olympus of the Greeks, Mount Alboros of the Iranians,
and Mount Kunlun of the Chinese. In Near Eastern tradition, the world mountain is the
small hill in Jerusalem known as Mount Zion, thus the circular continent centered on Jerusalem
in medieval maps also possessed a symbolic world mountain.
John Phillips wrote, Jerusalem was Paul's lodestone. The ancient mariners who set sail
in their little cockleshell boats tended to hug the coastline not daring to get too far from land.
Aids to navigation were few and their vessels were at the mercy of wind and wave.
The slightest sign of a storm would send them scurrying for refuge.
Moreover, the dreams of those old-time venturers were haunted by the thoughts of the
fabled lodestone mountain. They believed it had the power to draw their vessels to shipwreck on
its shores against all the pull of tide and wind. Isaiah wrote about a mountain
set above all other mountains in the far recesses of the north where the gods meet
called Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Genesis, Ezekiel, and Enoch all mention a
paradisical Eden, the mountain of God and source of four main rivers. Genesis 2, 10-14 reads,
and a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into
four heads. The name of the first is Paeson, that is which compasseth the whole land of Havela
where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. There is Delium and the Onyx stone,
and the name of the second river is Gihon, the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia,
and the name of the third river is Hiddickel, that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria,
and the fourth river is Euphrates. Muhammad also spoke of four rivers and a divine tree.
In the Srimad Bhagavatam, four branches of the celestial Ganges flow out from Brahmapuri
on top of Mount Sumeru. In ancient Canaan, Gourili, the mountain of El, was the dwelling of El,
the creator, and a place of assembly for the demigods. In one Phoenician ivory carving from
around 1000 BC, a deity is shown dressed to represent a mountain with four streams coming
out from the mountain god-man at right angles. Similarly, in an ancient Akkadian hymn to
the goddess Ishtar, she is addressed as the queen of the mountain of the world, and queen of the land
of the four rivers of Erich, and she says, I am lord of the steep mountains which tremble whilst their
summits reach to the firmament. In the Christian apocryphal book of Enoch, Enoch is taken by angels
on a tour of the seven heavens, and while in the third heaven shown magnificent trees producing
wonderful fruits with adjacent springs pumping honey, milk, oil, and wine to four directional rivers
flowing down into Paradisacal Eden, an abode specially prepared only for the pious and selfless.
Similarly, in the Hindu cosmology, four trees in the Lovarta Varsa stand on great mountains
producing rivers of nectar and honey, like fountains of youth providing health and vitality
to all who drink of them, while the central tallest jambu tree rises to incredible heights
and seems to cover all the heavens. Richard Thompson wrote, In the Bhagavata Purana,
Mount Sumeru is surrounded by four great mountains, surrounded by four gigantic trees.
These include the jambu tree, after which jambudwit is named. Four huge lakes of milk,
honey, sugarcane juice, and pure water are located between the four mountains,
and these lakes confer mystic powers on the celestial beings who bathe in them.
There are also four celestial gardens near these lakes. From the foot of each of the four trees,
there flows a river that either emerges from the tree itself or from the fruits of the tree.
These rivers of honey and different kinds of juice flow throughout the region of
Lovarta Varsa, surrounding Mount Sumeru, and they confer freedom from fatigue,
disease, and old age on the inhabitants of that region.
The Yakku people of northeastern Siberia have their own strikingly similar ancient myth,
where a world tree of immeasurable age exists at the navel of the earth,
just like the Hindu jambu tree is born of the umbilical knot of Brahma.
The Yakku world tree reaches into the high heavens with cones nine fathoms long
and sap which imparts youthfulness on all who consume it.
Near the Yakku tree also lies a lake of sweet milk,
which is where the popular modern Japanese milk company Yakku
doubtless gets its inspiration. Richard Thompson wrote,
In different traditions, the upper and lower worlds may be divided into several levels,
often seven or nine. In the center of the earth disc there is a world mountain or world pillar
that links middle earth to the lower and upper worlds. The world mountain represents the polar
axis and the dwellings of great demigods are located on its summit. The world mountain may
be surrounded by other mountains that define the cardinal directions,
and these directions may be associated with certain colors. Four sacred rivers may also
flow from the world mountain in the four cardinal directions. There is a world tree that is often
situated on the world mountain or four world trees may be located on the neighboring directional
mountains. The world tree extends from the earth to the heavens and it is nearly immortal.
It is the source of rivers of nectar or pure water that give health and longevity to those
who drink them. The tree stands in an earthly paradise where there are celestial gardens
and rivers of various substances such as milk, oil, and honey. The tree or world pillar is often
associated with a great eagle-like bird that is the enemy of great serpents dwelling in the lower
world. In ancient Iranian thought, a mountain called Herra Barazati or Alborj stands at the center
of the earth, a fixed point around which the sun, moon, and stars revolve. At its summit
lies the dwelling place of Ormaz, the Lord of Light, complete with a giant miraculous tree,
an Edenic garden of Ahura Mazda, and the celestial fountain Ardhusur, which is the
mother of all earthly water and flows down towards four cardinal points into four large streams.
The bridge Chinavad reaches from the peak of Alborj to the solid vault of heaven or
Gorodman, the home of the pious and blessed, whilst underneath lies the great gulf of Dozak,
the abysmal abode of the Lord of Darkness, Ariman. The earliest cosmogony recorded by the Japanese
in their most ancient book, the Kojiki, once again mirrors this recurring mythology.
In the beginning, Izanagi and Izanani, the great god and goddess standing in heaven,
drove a celestial spear into the endless sea and twisted it around until an island rose from the water.
They then descended from heaven to earth and built a palace around the huge spear,
using it as the central pillar. This spear became the central axis of the world,
and their palace the birthplace of the human race. In the Kojiki and Shinto religion,
the creator and the North Pole are so purposely and inseparably linked
that one of the often used names of God translates to the Lord of the center of heaven.
The Ainos, supposed first inhabitants of Japan, whose name means offspring of the centered,
are believed to have arrived onto the archipelago from the north and bury their dead facing north
to where their ancestors came and to which their spirits would return.
In Buddhist funeral ceremonies, bodies are cremated in special crematoriums actually called
Meru, which are essentially tall stone pillars with four doors at the peak aligned to the
cardinal directions with the belief that our reincarnated souls will pass Mount Meru before
returning to earthly bodies. Literally every temple and the little spirit house shrines
founded most Buddhist homes are also representations of Meru, the abode of the gods, aligned to the
four cardinal directions, and opulently embellished with gold, jewelry, and metaphysical artwork.
Dr. William Warren wrote,
Copin assures us that every orthodoxy constructed Buddhist temple either is or contains a
symbolical representation of the divine regions of Meru and of the heaven of the gods, saints,
and Buddhas rising above it. Lily says the 13 pyramidal layers at the top of every temple in
Nepal represent the 13 unchangeable heavens of Amitabha. Faber develops the evidence of this
practice among the ancients with gratefulness and with respect to the Hindus and Buddhists says
each pagoda, each pyramid, each month to form high place is invariably esteemed to be a copy
of the Holy Hill Meru. Ancient South American traditions also believed the human race was birthed
in the farthest north upon the highest of mountains surrounded by perpetual clouds,
fountainhead of the world's waters, and home of God Tlalak residing on their sacred paradise
mountains, Tlapalan. The first man, Ketsekadal, was said to have drank the water of immortality
from Tlalak's mountain and ruled as king throughout the golden age in Mexico. The many Incan,
Mayan, Aztec, and other steppe pyramids and temples aligned to cardinal directions and
devoted to the gods are representative of this world mountain. Interestingly enough,
many modern Mexican myths now represent the mountain as crooked or partially turned over.
Similarly, in the ancient Chinese Taoist tradition, a myth over 4,000 years old refers to
Shangtae, the highest of all gods who lives in Suiwei, described as a celestial space above the
North Pole. Shangtae's abode is said to exist directly over the peak of Mount Kunlun,
which again places the highest god at Polaris. As with the other cosmologies,
Mount Kunlun is a primeval paradise, abode of the gods, with a world tree in the middle
and a fountain of immortality from which four rivers flow outwards to the four corners of the
earth. Dr. William Warren wrote, sparkling fountains and pearling streams contain the far-famed
ambrosia. One may there rest on flowery, carpeted swards, listening to the melodious
warmling of birds, or feasting upon the delicious fruits at once fragrant and luscious,
which hang from the branches of the luxuriant groves. Whatever there is beautiful in landscape
or grand in nature may also be found there in the highest state of perfection. All is charming,
all enchanting, and whilst nature smiles, the company of genie delights the ravished visitor.
Where now is the Paradise Mountain located? At the North Pole. Immediately over the
central peak of Kunlun appears the Polar Star, which is Shang-Tae's heavenly abode. In the central
place, the Polar Star of Heaven, the One Bright One, the Great Monad, always dwells. In accordance
with this conception, the Emperor and his assistants, when officiating before the altar of
Heaven, always face the North. The Pole Star itself is a prominent object of worship.
Both the ancient Orientals and Greeks turned to face North before commencing prayer.
Homer states that when addressing the gods of Mount Olympus, they would stretch their arms
toward the northern sky, and Plato also confirms that this holy habitation of Zeus
was placed in the center of the world. Heraclitus said that it touches the ether
and casts a shadow of five thousand stadia in length. Herodotus stated the mountain to be
very tapering and round, so lofty, moreover, that the top cannot be seen, the clouds never
quitting it either summer or winter. The natives call this mountain the Pillar of Heaven,
and they themselves take their name from it, being called Atlantis. They are reported not
to eat any living thing. Strabo claimed it was an earthly paradise, with gigantic olive trees
and grape clusters, a qubit in length. Pliny described a river of milk descending from
great heights, and called the mountain a fabulacisumum. Maximus Therias claimed the ocean waves
stopped short before reaching the mountain, standing up like a wall around its base,
though unrestrained by any earthly barrier. Nothing but the air and the sacred thicket
prevent the water from reaching the mountain. In the Phaedo Socrates is quoted as saying,
all things that grow trees and flowers and fruit are fairer than any here,
and there are hills and stones in them smoother and more transparent and fairer in color
than our highly valued emeralds and sardonyx and jaspers and other gems, which are but
minute fragments of them. For there all the stones are like our precious stones and fairer still.
The temperament of their seasons is such that the inhabitants have no disease
and live much longer than we do, and have sight and hearing and smell
and all the other senses and much greater perfection. And they have temples and sacred
places in which the gods really dwell, and they hear their voices and receive their answers
and are conscious of them and hold converse with them, and they see the sun, the moon, and stars
as they really are. Dr. William Warren wrote,
The evidence that an ancient Hellenic thought also the heaven of the gods was in the northern
sky is incidental, but cumulative and satisfactory. For example, heaven is upheld by Atlas,
but the terrestrial station of Atlas, as we have elsewhere shown, is at the North Pole.
Again, Olympus was the abode of the gods, but if the now generally current etymology of this term
is correct, Olympus was simply the Atlantean pillar, pictured as a lofty mountain and
supporting the sky at its northern pole. In fact, many writers now affirm that the
Olympus of Greek mythology was originally simply the North Polar World Mountain of the
Asiatic nations. The ancient Germanic and Finnish people also, when praying or sacrificing to the
gods, always faced North, and in the Scandinavian Eddas, both Asgard and Idavalar are represented
as the naval or center of the world. For them, atop the Yggdazil Tree at Earth's center
was the heavenly Asgard, home of the gods. Today we still pay respect to this primitive
tradition at Christmas when we top our symbolic world trees with a bright yellow pole star.
Dr. William Warren wrote,
We have already seen that the term naval was anciently used in many languages for center,
and that the pole or central point of the revolving constellations was the naval of heaven,
but as to the celestial pole, there corresponds a terrestrial one. So it is only natural that
to the term, the naval of heaven, there should be the corresponding expression, the naval of the
earth. Beginning with Christian traditions, let us make a pilgrimage to the church of the Holy
Sepulcher at Jerusalem. There, in the portion belonging to the Greek Christians, we shall
discover a round pillar, some two feet high, projecting from the marble pavement,
but supporting nothing. If we inquire as to its purpose, we shall be informed that it is
designed to mark the exact center or naval of the earth. Early pilgrims and chroniclers
refer to this curious monument, but its antiquity no one knows. In the Indian piranhas, both the
terms naval of the earth and naval of heaven are used repeatedly and always referring to a
place not in or near India, but rather at the north pole. Hymns from the Rig Veda speak of the
supporting column of heaven, otherwise known as the Atlas pillar of Vedic cosmology, and describe it
as standing upon the naval of earth. In the fifth verse of the 185th hymn, day and night are
represented as twin sisters in the bosom of their parents, heaven and earth, where they lock arms
and spin circles around a common center point, namely the naval. This is also echoed in a mysterious
passage by Quintus Curtis, which has baffled modern commentators stating how the object which
represented the divine being resembled a naval set in gems. Dr. William Warren wrote,
If anything is needed to disprove the common notion that geographical ignorance and national
self-esteem first governed the ancient peoples and locating in their own countries,
navals of the earth, it is furnished by what is in all probability the oldest epic in the world,
that of Izubar, fragments of which have survived in the oldest literature of Babylonia.
These fragments show that the earliest inhabitants of the Tigro-Euphrates Basin
located the center of the earth, not in their own midst, but in a far off land
of sacred associations where the holy house of the gods is situated, a land into the heart where
of man hath not penetrated, a place underneath the overshadowing world tree and beside the
full waters. No description could more perfectly identify the spot with the arctic pole of
ancient Asiatic mythology. Yet this testimony stands not alone, for in the fragment of another
ancient text translated by Seis in the records of the past, we are told of a dwelling which the gods
created for the first human beings, a dwelling in which they became great and increased in numbers,
and the location of which is described in words exactly corresponding to those of Iranian, Indian,
Chinese, Edaic, and Aztec literature, namely in the center of the earth.
Among the ancient Inca subjects of Peru was found the same idea of a navel of the earth,
and even among the Chickasaws of Mississippi. Thus is all ancient thought full of this legendary
idea of a mysterious primeval holy paradisiac earth center, a spot connected as is no other
with the center of heaven, the paradise of God. Why it should be so no one has ever told us,
but the hypothesis which places the biblical Eden at the pole, and makes all latter earth
navals commemorative of that primal one, affords a perfect explanation. In the light of it,
there is no difficulty in understanding that earth center in Jerusalem with which we began.
The inconspicuous pillar in the church of the holy sepulcher symbolizes and commemorates far
more than the geographical ignorance of medieval ages. It stands for the Japanese pillar by
which the first soul born upon earth mounted to the sky. It stands for the world column
of the East Arians in the Chinvat bridge of Iran. It stands for the law-proclaiming pillar of
Oracalcum in Atlantis, placed in the center of the most central land. It stands for that
Talmudic pillar by means of which the tenants of the terrestrial paradise mount to the celestial,
and having spent the Sabbath returned to pass the week below. It symbolizes
Cardo, Atlas, Meru, Heriberizate, Karsakura, every fabulous mountain on whose top the sky
pivots itself, and around which all the heavenly bodies ceaselessly revolve. Perpetuates a
religious symbolism which existed in its region before ever Jerusalem had been made the Hebrew
capital, recalling to our modern world the Tabur Haaretz of a period anterior to the days
of Samuel. In tradition it is said to mark the precise spot once the clay was taken out of which
the body of Adam was modeled. It does so, but it does it in a language and method which were common
to all the most ancient nations of the earth. It points not to the soil in which it stands,
but to the holier soil of a faraway primitive Eden. In Freemasonic temples, on Freemasonic
tracing boards and upon Freemasonic aprons can be found similar symbolism pointing to these concepts,
namely a flat earth framed by pillars covered by an arch-formant, often with the tallest or most
prominent pillar positioned centrally and a single eye representing Polaris situated above it.
The sun and moon are also usually shown on either side representing their paths and
positions over and around the flat earth. This knowledge was clearly widespread among the ancient
world, but in modern times has become occulted by certain such secret societies and vested interests.
Dr. William Warren wrote,
Everywhere, therefore, in the most ancient ethnic thought, in the Egyptian,
Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Indian, Persian, Chinese and Greek, everywhere is
encountered this conception of what looked at with respect to its base and magnitude is called
the mountain of the world, but looked at with respect to its glorious summit and its celestial
inhabitants is styled the mountain of the gods. We need not pursue the investigation further.
Enough has been said to warrant the assertion of Dr. Samuel Beale. It is plain that this
idea of a lofty central primeval mountain belonged to the undivided human race.
Elsewhere, the same learned synologue has said,
I have no doubt that the idea of a central mountain and of the rivers flowing from it
and the abode of the gods upon its summit is a primitive myth derived from the earliest
traditions of our race. In concluding this sketch of ancient cosmology, one further
question naturally and inevitably thrusts itself upon us. It is this,
how are the rise and the so wide diffusion of this singular world view to be explained?
In other words, how came it to pass that the ancestors of the oldest historic races and peoples
agreed to regard the North Pole as the true summit of the earth and the circumpolar sky as the true
heaven? The ancient world's mythologies regarding a magnetic mountain, four directional rivers,
and other more fantastical features at the North Pole are shockingly consistent.
But what did the earliest known explorers, historians, and cartographers have to say about
the subject? Pythias, the earliest recorded explorer of the North Pole in the 4th century BC,
claimed to discover an island he called Tule, or Thule, the farthest northern land,
and gave an account sounding straight out of ancient mythology.
In his lost book entitled On the Ocean, Pythias wrote,
The island was more than 40,000 stadia, and in this region there was no longer either
land properly so called, or sea or air, but a kind of substance concreted from all these
elements resembling a sea lungs, a thing which the earth, the sea, and all the elements are
held in suspension, and this is a sort of bond to hold all together, which you can neither walk
nor sail upon. Pythias claimed upon reaching the northernmost point accessible, that land,
air, and water somehow became like one substance similar to a jellyfish, and was completely
impassable. Little remains of Pythias' original account, but secondhand sources like Strabo
inform us regarding the inhabitants of the surrounding northern islands.
He says that of the animals and domesticated fruits, there is an utter dearth of some
and scarcity of others, and that the people live on millet and other herbs, and on fruits and roots,
and where there are grain and honey, the people get their beverage also from them.
As for the grain, he says, since they have no pure sunshine, they pound it out in large
storehouses, after first gathering in the ears thither for the threshing floors become useless
because of this lack of sunshine and because of the rains. Pliny the Elder also wrote of
Pythias' journey in his naturalis Historia, stating that, on summer days, the sun approached
nearer to the top of the world, owing to a natural circuit of light, the underlying parts
of the earth of continuous days for six months at a time and continuous nights when the sun has
withdrawn in the opposite direction towards winter. Pythias of Morellus writes that this occurs in
the island of Tule, six days voyage north from Britain. Pythias states that north of Britain,
the tides rise 80 cubits. The most remote of all is Tule, in which we have pointed out
there are no nights at mid-summer when the sun is passing through the sign of the crab,
and on the other hand, no days at mid-winter. Indeed, some writers think this is the case for
periods of six months at a time without a break. One day's sail from Tule is the frozen ocean,
called by some, the Cronian Sea. Benjamin Franklin De Costa wrote,
The earliest voyage to the north that is claimed for Pythias, the distinguished
Phoenician astronomer and geographer of Marcells, who flourished 320 BC. His works were extant in
the fifth century, but are no longer found. Pliny and Eritastanese gave full credit to his narrations,
though Strabo shows great hostility to Pythias, whose accounts he refused to receive,
saying that he made use of his acquaintance with astronomy and mathematics to fabricate
his false narrative. Pliny, however, with more reason, thought that he employed his
knowledge in practical exploration. The latest editor of Strabo does not share in his author's
doubt. According to Pliny and others, Pythias sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar,
making his way north to the British Isles, whither it was the custom of his countrymen
to resort and, after travelling over England on foot, proceeded northward to a place
called Tule, six days sail from the northern part of Britain. Even before the fourth century BC,
similar claims were made by ancient Greek and Roman poets and historians, like Pindar,
Herodotus, Hesuid, Homer, then later Virgil and Cicero, regarding Hyperborea and the Hyperborians,
meaning place or people beyond the north wind. They said the people of Hyperborea
were giants who lived for over a thousand years and enjoyed lives of perfect happiness.
In another lost book, written in the fourth century BC, Hakedas of Abdera collated all
the known stories written about the Hyperborians. Diodorus Siculus references this lost work,
stating that, in the regions beyond the land of the Celts, there lies in the ocean an island
no smaller than Sicily. This island, the account continues, is situated in the north and is inhabited
by the Hyperborians, who are called by that name because their home is beyond the point
whence the north wind, Boreus, blows, and the island is both fertile and productive of every crop
and has a temperate climate. The classical Greek poet Pindar wrote that,
never the muses absent from their ways, liars clash and flutes cry and everywhere made in
chorus is whirling, neither disease nor bitter old age is mixed in their sacred blood,
far from labour and battle they live, and reminiscent of Pythias' strange account,
Pindar stated that, neither by ship nor on foot would you find the marvellous road to the
assembly of the Hyperborians. Similar to Tule and Hyperborea, the Celts also had their northern
terrestrial paradise known as Avalon. St Brandon's son of Finlogo, a famous saint of the Irish church,
who died in 576 AD, was allegedly the first to reach this land during a sea voyage to the
north. Similar to other ancient accounts, St Brandon mentioned a fountain with four
directional streams and claimed there were magnificent castles and castle halls lighted with
self-luminous stones and adorned with all manner of precious jewels surpassing description.
In 1035 AD, Archbishop Adelbert, the vicar of Scandinavia, sent a team of Frisian nobles
to explore the northern polar region after which Adam of Bremen recorded their experiences in the
book Gesta hemivergensis ecclesii pontificum. Similar to accounts of the Hyperborians, the Frisian
explorers claimed to reach an island where they encountered giant human beings living in caves
and underground hollows. The giant's domiciles were adorned in gold and precious metals which
some of the Frisians stupidly attempted to steal and were swiftly chased back to their boats
minus one of their comrades caught by a giant who, quote,
in a twinkling tore him to pieces before their eyes. They never reached the North Pole or a
magnetic mountain but did encounter an incredible feature long alleged to surround them.
Ancient Norse legend states that a gigantic violent maelstrom or whirlpool known as
Virgilmer or the world's well surrounds the polar mountain and via four six hour daily cycles of
pushing and pulling through subterranean channels cause the rising and falling of tides on earth.
Adam of Bremen recounts the Frisian explorers' deadly encounter with this abysmal chasm as such.
Of a sudden they fell into that numbing ocean's dark mist which could hardly be
penetrated with the eyes and behold the current of the fluctuating ocean whirled back to its
mysterious fountain head and with most furious impetuosity drew the unhappy sailors who in their
despair now thought only of death onto chaos. This, they say, is the abysmal chasm that deep
in which report has it that all the backflow of the sea which appears to decrease is absorbed
and in turn revomited as the mounting fluctuation is usually described. As the partners were imploring
the mercy of God to receive their souls the backward thrust of the sea carried away some of
their ships but its forward ejection threw the rest far behind the others freed thus by the
timely help of God from the instant peril they had had before their eyes they seconded the
flood by rowing with all their might. Besides the Norse legends of Virgulmer historical records
of this world well can be found as early as the 8th century A.D. when Paul Estiaconis or Paul the
Deacon Benedictine monk scribe and historian of the Lombards wrote in his Historia langobardorum
that not far from the shore where the ocean extends without bounds is that very deep abyss
of waters which we commonly call the oceans naval it is said twice a day to suck the waves into itself
and to spew them out again as is proved to happen all along these coasts where the waves rush in and
go back again with fearful rapidity by the whirlpool of which we have spoken it is asserted
that ships are often drawn in with such rapidity that they seem to resemble the flight of
arrows through the air and sometimes they are lost in the gulf with a very frightful destruction
often just as they are about to go under they are brought back again by a sudden shock of the waves
and they are sent out again thence with the same rapidity with which they were drawn in.
Geraldes Cambrensis or Gerald of Wales Archdeacon of Brecken historian and royal clerk to King
Henry II wrote in his 1188 work topographia hibernica that not far from the islands towards
the north there is an astonishing whirlpool in the sea towards which there is a set of current
of the waves from all corners until pouring themselves into nature's secret recesses they
are swallowed up as it were in the abyss should a vessel chance to pass in that direction
it is caught and drawn along by the force of the waves and sucked by the vortex without chance of
escape there are four of these whirlpools in the ocean described by philosophers as existing in the
four different quarters of the world once it has been conjectured that the currents of the sea
as well as the winds are regulated by fixed principles the whirlpool was also mentioned
in another late 12th century work Historia Norweige where the author an anonymous Norwegian
monk gives a particularly detailed description stating the greatest of all whirlpools is to be
found there which engulfs the strongest ships sucking them in that abtide and spewing out
their fragments with a belt jet flood tide there is a very deep abyss in the earth itself and
alongside it are open mouthed caverns containing winds which are said to be brought forth by
the breathing of the water and these are the breath of gales indeed by their breathing these
winds draw to them the waters of the sea through hidden passages in the earth they shut them up
in the vaults of the abyss and then by the same force drive them out again causing sea surges
spates and the whirling of water spouts earthquakes also occur in various discharges
of vapor and conflagration for when the winds breath held in the cheeks of earth presses to
burst out it shakes the foundation of the world with a dreadful roaring and forces it to tremble
so when the winds breath contends with fire in the earth's interior then even in mid ocean
the depths are fissured and smoky exhalations and sulfurous flames are seen to emerge
by the 13th century ad the idea of a magnetic mountain at the north pole was widely known enough
that italian poet guido guinezzelli actually used it as a simile for the power of his woman's love
the section from his poem madonna the fine love i give you translated reads in that land
beneath the north wind are the magnetic mountains which transmit to the air their power to
attract the iron but because it is far away it needs help from a similar stone to make the compass
needle turn towards the pole star in the 14th century two lost books in ventio fortuneata
by nicolas delin and the itinarium of jacobus sonnoyen mentioned the magnetic mountain
four directional rivers and encircling whirlpool said to change every six hours causing the tides
comparing them to the breath of god at the navel of the earth inhaling and exhaling the great seas
many citations from the two books are made by more modern sources but surviving copies have
unfortunately all been lost to antiquity nicolas delin was an english minorite fryer of oxford
a mathematician astronomer and explorer who lived from 1330 to 1390 he was fascinated by
the astrolabe and actually produced several of them for patrons and his own personal use
john of gaunt duke of Lancaster even commissioned nicolas to produce an astrolabe and a calendarium
of complete astronomical tables covering 1387 to 1463 which were later used to create nautical
almanacs for this nicolas became famously known as the man with the astrolabe and was even
complimented and lauded as an astronomical genius by jeffrey chaucer in his treatise on the astrolabe
his esteem as a knowledgeable astronomer and navigator soon reached king edward the third
who in the early 1360s sent nicolas and a team of ships to explore the arctic
benjamin franklin de costa wrote the work by which nicolas of lin will longest be remembered
is not now to be found its disappearance under any circumstances is not a matter of surprise
since of many important works once well known no copy remains today while of others there are only
one or two examples unfortunately we know almost as little about the voyages made from lin by the
fellow townsmen of nicolas as about the book in question many hardy mariners sailed from
the port of lin but of their enterprise at the north only the most scanty memorials remain
it is nevertheless clear that their activity was appreciated by edward the third while their
neighbors of blakeney were several times favored by that king on account of their superior merit
what we know about nicolas de lin his polar explorations and his lost book now come from
existing citations and quotations from his contemporaries and readers one such man was
jacobus snoyan a dutch explorer who composed a book of travel epics in flemish also lost to
antiquity but quoted and reprinted in later works still available snoyan is referenced as
learning from the minor right nicolas de lin that large parts of the polar in drawing sea
did not freeze over in winter speaking of nicolas snoyan wrote the priest who had the astralabe
related to the king of norway then in 1360 ad there had come to these northern islands
an english minor right from oxford who was a good astronomer leaving the rest of the party
who had come to the islands he journeyed further through the whole of the north and put
into writing all the wonders of those islands and gave the king of england this book which
he called in latin in ventio fortunate which book began at latitude 54 degrees continuing to the pole
both nicolas and snoyans books contained a detailed map of the arctic derived from nicolas's journeys
which included a magnetic mountain at the north pole four directional streams
encircling whirlpool and surrounding islands luckily for posterity a version of this
map still survives to this day because it was used for johannes ruish's 1508 map of the world
and later reproduced in detail and published in 1595 by the most well-known cartographer in history
responsible for the most popular maps ever created gerardus mercader on the legend of ruish's map
nicolas delin's in ventio fortunata is referenced as its source stating that it is written in
the book of the fortunate discovery that under the arctic pole there is a high magnetic rock
33 german miles in circumference a surging sea surrounds this rock as if the water were
discharged downward from a vase through an opening to four mouths below around our islands of which
two are inhabited mountains vast and wide surround these islands 24 of which deny habitation to
man another inscription on reish's map describes the incredible magnetic effect of the polar lodestone
mountain stating here the ship's compass loses its property and no vessel with iron on board
is able to get away chet van duzer wrote a world map by johannes ruish the universe sailor
cogniti orbis tabula published in an edition of talami's geographia in rome in 1508 shows four
islands around the north pole two the one north of greenland and its opposite across the pole
are labeled insula deserta the one north of europe is that of the hyperborians and the one north
of america is labeled parent fey he labels the waters within the four islands as the
mayor sugenum and speaks of a violent whirlpool that sucks the incoming waters down into the earth
in addition his map shows a ring of small very mountainous islands around the four islands
which numerous islands rish says are uninhabited this would seem to indicate that the book written
by nicolas of lin was known to the mapmaker while also it may have been known at rome
it is evident that the polar region was drawn more or less in accordance with some
plan by nicolas which was combined with later material around the magnetic rock immediately
under the pole are four islands aron fey insula deserta hyperbore europa and insula deserta outside
of these islands are smaller and mountainous islands arranged in a semicircle while the peninsula
of pila pilanti with its base resting upon europe pushes out into this druidic arrangement of islands
bearing up what is intended to represent a church with the legend sakti adolfi east word of this
peninsula is the provicia obscura and the mayor sugenum westward of berga extrema another peninsula
enters the groups of islands which is pierced by planora de berga at the extreme west the
mayor sugenum also fills the west south of greenland is terra nova or newfoundland from the
mayor sugenum the water flows northward through the four openings into the polar basin the arrangement
is curious yet not wholly without resemblance to what is found in nature for what is called the
polar basin is fed by several vast streams pouring into it from the warm regions at the south
these streams also create counter currents which flow southward bearing enormous quantities of the
heaviest ice swedish historian olis magnus wrote of both the magnetic mountain and surrounding whirlpool
in his 1555 work historia de gentibus septentrian obelis a description of the northern peoples
stating it to be a well-known fact that ships in the north must be built with wooden pegs as
iron nails would be pulled out by the northern lodestone mountain and that quote between roest
and loaferton is so great an abyss or rather cherub dis that it suddenly swamps and swallows up in an
instant those mariners who unconsciously approach pieces of wreckage are very seldom thrown up again
and if they come to light the hard material shows such signs of wear and chafing through being
dashed against the rocks that it looks as if it were covered with rough wool just two years later
in 1557 english explorer anthony jenkinson also wrote of the whirlpool saying note that there is
between the said roest island and lofoot a whirlpool called malastrand which from half
ebb until half flood maketh such a terrible noise that it shakeeth the rings and the doors of
inhabitants houses of the said islands ten miles off also if they're cometh any whale within the
current of the same they make a pitiful cry moreover if great trees be carried into it by
force of streams and after would the ebb be cast out again the ends and bows of them have been so
beaten that they are like the stalks of hemp that is bruised a few decades later in 1591
shonable a man who was sheriff of lofoten and vestor allen for over 20 years wrote a similar
description claiming that quote iron rings on house doors are shaken hither and thither by the
rushing of the current whales who cannot go forward on account of the strong stream give a
great cry and then are gone and great trees spruce or fur which disappear in this current
and when at last they come up again then all the boughs all the roots and all the bark is torn
off and it is shaped as though it had been cut up with a sharp axe the most famous map maker who
ever lived and likely the only person in the history of cartography to become a household name
gerardus mercator known for his meticulous accuracy and responsible for the popular
mercator projection lived from 1512 to 1594 and created hundreds of detailed maps
the year after his death in 1595 his family compiled his life's work into an atlas which
included never before released reproductions of nicolas delin's maps of the polar regions
specifically the septin trianolium terrarium descriptio this incredible map shows the
polar magnetic mountain said to be the highest in the world named rupus nigra encircling whirlpool
four directional rivers and surrounding islands in fine detail along with several revealing
inscriptions chet van duzer wrote the map shows a north pole that is very unfamiliar to modern
eyes at the center of the map and right at the pole stands a huge black mountain this mountain
was made of lodestone and was the source of the earth's magnetic field the central mountain is
surrounded by open water and then further out by four large islands that form a ring around the pole
the largest of these islands perhaps 700 by 1100 miles and they all have high mountains along
their southern rims these islands are separated by four large inward flowing rivers which are
aligned as if to the four points of the compass though of course there is no northeast or west at
the north pole every direction from this center is south mercader's notes inform us that the
waters of the oceans are carried northward to the pole through these rivers with great force
such that no wind could make a ship sail against the current the waters then disappear into
an enormous whirlpool beneath the mountain at the pole and are absorbed into the bowels of
the earth mercader also tells us that four foot tall pygmies inhabit the island closest to europe
in another inscription made on the map mercader informs the reader further regarding the great
whirlpool stating that a monstrous gulf in the sea towards which from all sides the
billows of the sea come from remote parts converge and run together as though brought
there by conduit pouring into these mysterious abysses of nature they are as though devoured
thereby and should it happen that a vessel pass there it is seized and drawn away with such powerful
violence of the waves that this hungry force immediately swallows it up never to appear again
gerardus mercader studied at the university of louvain in 1549 where he met and befriended
another very influential figure of his time john d astronomer astrologer and advisor to queen
elizabeth the first d was convinced that a route to the indies could be found through the northwest
passage and while attempting to interest queen elizabeth to support an expedition he contacted
mercader for more information in mercader's 1577 letter back to d we learn he copied verbatim
from jacobus snowyans itinarium stating that in the midst of the four countries is a whirlpool
into which they're empty these four in drawing seas which divide the north and the water rushes
round and descends into the earth just as if one were pouring it through a filter funnel it is four
degrees wide on every side of the pole that is to say eight degrees altogether except that right
under the pole there lies a bear rock in the midst of the sea its circumference is almost 33
french miles and it is all of magnetic stone and is as high as the clouds so the priest said
who had received the astrolabe from this minorite in exchange for a testament and the minorite
himself had heard that one can see all around it from the sea and that it is black and glistening
and nothing grows there on for there is not so much as a handful of soil on it this is word
for word everything that i copied out of this author years ago as late as the mid 17th century
aspects of these polar phenomena continued appearing in cartography and cosmography the
uripy or four in drawing streams were included or alluded to in list showton's 1595 map the
ortellius of 1599 quads fasciculous geographicus of 1608 hondias's 1619 map purchases map of 1625
and in halen's 1659 cosmography he wrote about the rupus nigra and surrounding whirlpool and
uripy stating that under the arctic pole is said to be a black rock of wondrous height
about 33 leagues and compass the land adjoining being torn by the sea into four great islands
for the ocean violently breaking through it and discorging itself by 19 channels make a four
uripy or fierce whirlpools by which the waters are finally carried towards the north and these
swallowed into the bowels of the earth that uripy's or whirlpool which is made by the
sithic ocean hath five inlets and by reason of his straight passage and violent course is never
frozen the other on the back of greenland being 37 leagues long hath three inlets and remain
if frozen three months yearly between these two lieth an island on the north of lapia and bearmia
inhabited as they say by pygmies the tallest of them not above four foot high
a certain scholar of oxford reported that these four uripy are carried with such furious violence
towards some gulf in which they are finally swallowed up that no ship is able with never
so strong a gale to stem the current and yet there is never so strong a wind as to blow a windmill
there is modern circumstantial evidence that lends strong credence to this idea as well
the largest publicly known maelstrom in the world is called salt stroomen just north of
the arctic circle in norway where 400 million cubic meters of water passed through a three
kilometer long 150 meter wide straight reaching speeds of 10 meters per second similar to legends of
vergover this northern whirlpool actually arises exactly four times per day every six hours
along with the shifting of the tides in fact the majority of naturally occurring whirlpools in the
world including the famous neruto whirlpools in japan form four times per day every six hours
as the tides change if the entire ancient world's mythologies along with early explorers historians
and cartographers all shared similar accounts of a polar magnetic mountain encircling whirlpool
four directional streams and surrounding islands occupied by giants and or pigmes why is it that
no modern accounts of the north pole have a single mention of any such thing how is it possible for
such consistency and polar geography to exist throughout the ancient world why have all these
features suddenly disappeared from modern maps were the ancients all completely mistaken
with regards to the north pole or are we now in modern times the victims of a concerted cover-up
and being deceived about what is really at the pole