Always find old maps intriguing, as a student who grew up with USSR on the map for at least five years after the Berlin Wall, I enjoy searching for globes and maps which qualify Tibet as its own country instead of a Chinese province. It must be a fun challenge to check period novelists for authenticity, it must get easier as you learn more. Great post.
Yeah I have been fascinated with old maps since childhood as well. Old maps, fantasy maps... I spent a lot of time when I was little drawing maps of made up worlds. I am just starting to get back into drawing maps again, I will post some of my works in progress on here at some point
I look forward to it.