1597: trees used to grow in Antarctica?

Ever been to Philippopolis-city? It's just across the river from the lush green Antarctica. A see a beach out there. I bet it was not that hard for Piri Reis to draw his map :unsure:

1597
Chica sive Patagonica et Australis Terra 1598.jpg

Chica sive Patagonica et Australis Terra 1597.jpg

Tropic of Capricorn
World_map_with_tropic_of_capricorn.png

Today

In 1597
Chica sive Patagonica et Australis Terra 1597_1.jpg

Looks like in 1597 Antarctica was extending beyond the Tropic of Capricorn. Interesting...


KD: If 500-600 years ago there indeed were trees in Antarctica... what had to happen for Antarctica to become covered with "million year old" ice?
 
The Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are roughly where the sun appears directly above on the solstices. So it would seem that for that position to have changed, then either the sun's position changed relative to the land or vice versa.

I want to double check a bunch of older maps now, purely for the positioning of the Tropics. To start, the 1587 Mercator/Vespucci matches up pretty well to my eye and gives us a fuller view of what could have been going on.

Mercator_World_Map.jpg

source

That map seems to validate the thinking that the land disappeared, as the Tropic of Capricorn is basically where it is today for known land masses.
 
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