As a subset of the Tech Level discussion, Ive started to think that there really should be a differentiation between contacted and uncontacted tech levels. As someone pointed out, the jump from TL8 to TL9 might be much easier simply knowing that the technologies of TL9 are possible, or that anti-gravity can work.
Another aspect of that is knowledge of the world. A TL2 population that has not been contacted might not even know what the entire world looks like from a continent outline perspective, but a TL2 world with regular interstellar trade might well have a catalog of every world in the Imperium, with maps to go with it.
So, that leads to the actual question: for
uncontacted worlds, at what tech levels do the populations living on those worlds start to get a feeling of the continental distribution of the world? I came across the Early World Maps wiki page (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_world_maps ) and was surprised at
Eratosthenes map and Hecataeus of Miletus maps. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting that level of knowledge at 500 BC (TL 1.3 I suppose, according to the Traveller 5 rules).
Would a small Viking settlement in northern Norway at 500 BC likely be aware of populations living on the coast of the Mediterranean in north Africa?
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That might very well depend on when/whether they had contact with traders/other travellers.
Years ago I came across a book that was a series of maps w/ extensive notes.
Some of the maps illustrated the spread of copper-working, bronze-working, &, finally, iron-working, across NAfrica, Europe, & the MidEast.
Must've been some sort of contact going way, way back.
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