QuickCheck: Was the Malay Peninsula known as the 'Golden Peninsula' in ancient times?

Image trimmed from Nicolaus Germanus's 1467 manuscript copy of a Latin translation of Ptolemy's Geography, showing the Golden Chersonese, which is the present Malay Peninsula. Credit: New York Public Library

THROUGHOUT history, geographers have attempted to draw maps of our immediate surroundings and beyond to help us in navigation.

The world as we know it today looked very different centuries ago, so it’s fascinating to see how ancient maps depicted it in a time before GPS and satellite imagery.