The document traces the remarkable 10,000-year journey of mapmaking, from the earliest cave drawings to modern digital maps. It highlights significant milestones in cartography, including the Babylonian Map of the World, Ptolemy’s Geographia, the Tabula Rogeriana, and the Mercator projection.
The evolution of maps reflects humanity’s relentless quest to understand and navigate the Earth.
Evolution of Maps
For over 10,000 years, people have been making maps to help them learn about and picture the world around them. In the very beginning, maps were very simple drawings on cave walls, rocks, or dirt. These early maps showed basic things like where people lived, where water was located, and the shapes of mountains or other landforms nearby. As time went on, mapmaking became more advanced. People started using better materials like clay, papyrus, and parchment to create more detailed and portable maps. They could map larger areas and add more information like routes, distances, and locations of cities.
With the invention of the compass, mapmakers were able to better orient their maps and explore new lands. Famous explorers used maps to navigate across oceans and continents. Each new discovery added more knowledge to the maps.The development of printing allowed maps to be easily reproduced and distributed widely. This helped share geographic knowledge around the world. Improved surveying tools also made maps increasingly accurate.
In more modern times, the ability to view the Earth from above with airplanes, satellites, and drones has transformed mapmaking. Now highly precise digital maps show incredibly detailed views of the entire planet’s surface.Even today, maps continue evolving through technologies like GPS, online maps, and virtual globes. Over thousands of years, the drive to make better maps has gone hand-in-hand with humanity’s endless quest to explore and understand the Earth we live on.
Babylonian Map of the World
The Babylonian Map of the World is an ancient clay tablet dating back to around 600 BC. It is considered the oldest surviving map that shows the entire known world at that time.
This map was created by the Babylonians, who lived in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). It was made by pressing a flat piece of clay with a carved stone cylinder, leaving behind an impression of the map.The map shows the world as a flat, circular disk surrounded by an ocean called the “Bitter River.” In the center of the circle is the city of Babylon, shown as a large rectangle.
Around Babylon, the map depicts the region of Mesopotamia with cities, mountains, and the Euphrates River. Other major cities at the time, like Assyria, are also marked.Outside of the main circle are more regions and places that were known to the Babylonians, such as islands and distant lands and seas. These outer areas have illustrations of things like boats, trees, and animals.
While very basic by today’s standards, this clay tablet map reveals what the Babylonians understood about the geography and locations of major places in their world over 2,600 years ago.It uses symbols and pictures rather than words to label the various locations. Despite its simplicity, the Babylonian Map of the World is an important archaeological artifact that gives us a glimpse into the earliest mapmaking attempts.
Ptolemy’s Geographia
Ptolemy was a Greek mathematician, astronomer and geographer who lived in the 2nd century AD. His book called “Geographia” is considered the first true atlas of the entire known world at that time.
The Geographia contained maps of the whole world as it was understood then, as well as regional maps of areas like Europe, Asia, and Africa. In total, there were 27 maps accompanied by texts describing the different lands and locations.Ptolemy based his maps on the knowledge of earlier Greek geographers and new information coming in from Roman explorers and traders. However, since travel was difficult, some parts of his maps were quite inaccurate.
His world map showed the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa clustered together with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. It had over 8,000 place names and locations labeled on it.Ptolemy developed a system of maps using lines of longitude and latitude, making his maps much more precise than earlier ones. He also provided instructions for future mapmakers on how to project the spherical earth onto a flat plane accurately.
The Geographia was incredibly influential and became the main source of geographic knowledge for over a thousand years after it was created. Copies were made and studied throughout Europe and the Islamic world.Although not perfect, Ptolemy’s atlas was a major milestone, systematically compiling all the geographic information available at that time into an authoritative reference work.
Tabula Rogeriana
The Tabula Rogeriana, also known as the Book of Roger, was a famous atlas created in 1154 AD by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. It provided one of the most comprehensive views of the known world at that time.
Al-Idrisi was commissioned by the Norman King Roger II of Sicily to create this atlas. He compiled information from ancient Greek and Roman sources, as well as contemporary Arabic merchants and explorers.The atlas consisted of 70 section maps drawn on circular disks, which could be put together to form a complete representation of the world. The maps showed Europe, Asia, and North Africa in great detail.
On the maps, al-Idrisi included over 2,500 place names, labeled major cities, rivers, mountains, seas, and trade routes. The maps were oriented with South at the top.One unique feature was the depiction of the Indian Ocean as enclosed by land, since its full extent was unknown in medieval times.The Tabula Rogeriana incorporated the most up-to-date geographic knowledge available in the 12th century after over a millennium since Ptolemy’s influential work.
It was one of the greatest achievements in medieval cartography and served as an essential geographic reference for centuries after its creation, until new explorers ventured further around the world.With its ambitious scope and relative accuracy for its time, the Book of Roger represented an important bridge to the maps of the Renaissance period.
Where Be Dragons?
In the days before modern exploration, there were many parts of the world that were unknown and unmapped. These uncharted regions seemed mysterious and dangerous to medieval mapmakers and sailors.To warn people about venturing into these uncharted areas on their maps, cartographers would write phrases like “Here Be Dragons” or “Here are Monsters” in those blank spaces.The phrase “Here Be Dragons” comes from the medieval Latin phrase “Hic sunt dracones.” Dragons were mythical reptilian creatures that were feared and represented the dangers that could exist in unexplored territories.
By labeling unknown areas with ominous warnings, mapmakers were indicating that these blanc spaces on the maps represented potential risks and hazards that could threaten ships or travelers who dared to journey too far into unfamiliar lands and waters.In addition to dragons, they might illustrate these uncharted regions with drawings of sea monsters, mythical creatures from folklore, or sketches of what they imagined might exist in those unmapped places.
So the phrase “Here Be Dragons” served as both a literal warning about potential dangers as well as a symbolic representation of the fears surrounding the unmapped, unfamiliar world beyond the boundaries of traditional exploration and cartography.It highlighted the combination of very real risks but also the mythical unknown that existed until further voyages could accurately map those uncharted parts of the world.
Hereford Mappa Mundi
In the days before modern exploration, there were many parts of the world that were unknown and unmapped. These uncharted regions seemed mysterious and dangerous to medieval mapmakers and sailors.
To warn people about venturing into these uncharted areas on their maps, cartographers would write phrases like “Here Be Dragons” or “Here are Monsters” in those blank spaces.The phrase “Here Be Dragons” comes from the medieval Latin phrase “Hic sunt dracones.” Dragons were mythical reptilian creatures that were feared and represented the dangers that could exist in unexplored territories.
By labeling unknown areas with ominous warnings, mapmakers were indicating that these blanc spaces on the maps represented potential risks and hazards that could threaten ships or travelers who dared to journey too far into unfamiliar lands and waters.In addition to dragons, they might illustrate these uncharted regions with drawings of sea monsters, mythical creatures from folklore, or sketches of what they imagined might exist in those unmapped places.
So the phrase “Here Be Dragons” served as both a literal warning about potential dangers as well as a symbolic representation of the fears surrounding the unmapped, unfamiliar world beyond the boundaries of traditional exploration and cartography.It highlighted the combination of very real risks but also the mythical unknown that existed until further voyages could accurately map those uncharted parts of the world.
Catalan Atlas
The Catalan Atlas, created in 1375, was one of the most impressive and accurate nautical maps made during the Middle Ages. It consisted of detailed sea charts and maps covering the Mediterranean Sea and parts of the Atlantic Ocean and Black Sea.This atlas was produced by the Majorcan cartographic school in the Catalan region of what is now Spain. It showed the skills of the Catalan and Majorcan mapmakers, who were leaders in maritime mapping at that time.
A key innovation of the Catalan Atlas was its use of compass roses and rhumb lines to aid navigation. Compass roses showed the orientation of the cardinal directions, while rhumb lines formed a network of lines crossing at accurate angles to show clear routes for sailors.With these compass markings and other navigational details, the maps in the atlas allowed ships to reliably follow coastlines, locate ports, and travel between islands across the open sea using just a compass bearing.
The maps were stunningly accurate for their era, incorporating the latest knowledge from explorers and using precise measuring techniques. The level of detail included coastal outlines, mountains, rivers, cities and more.In addition to navigation aids, the Catalan Atlas was renowned for its beautifully illustrated maps adorned with images of people, animals, ships, and imperial coats of arms.As one of the first detailed nautical atlases integrating the compass rose, the Catalan Atlas represented a major leap forward in the use of mapping for long-distance maritime voyaging and exploration.
Mercator map of the world
In 1569, the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator created a revolutionary new world map using a novel projection technique.
Before Mercator’s map, most world maps showed the earth as a flat plane or distorted the relative sizes of landmasses. Mercator’s innovation was to depict the globe as a cylinder, preserving the shapes of the continents.On the Mercator projection, all of the meridians (lines of longitude) are shown as parallel vertical lines, evenly spaced across the map. The parallels (lines of latitude) are horizontals that get increasingly spaced apart towards the poles.
This projection made it much easier for sailors and navigators to plot straight courses across the oceans by using a constant compass bearing. The meridians formed a grid that sailors could follow.However, to preserve the right shapes, areas farther from the equator became increasingly distorted and enlarged in size on the map. For example, Greenland appears vastly bigger than Africa, when in reality Africa is over 14 times larger.
Despite these distortions, the Mercator map was revolutionary for its time and allowed for accurate navigation and exploration. It remained the standard map projection for world maps for over 300 years.With its cylindrical projection and geometrically spaced coordinates, Mercator’s 1569 world map is considered the first modern map and a landmark in the transition from medieval to modern cartography.Its practical navigation benefits made it an indispensable tool for European sailors exploring and mapping the full extent of the globe over the coming centuries.
Aerial map of Manhattan
In the 1920s, a series of extremely detailed aerial photographic maps were made of the island of Manhattan in New York City. These were some of the first maps created by taking photographs from an airplane flying overhead.
Previously, maps had to be made by surveyors making measurements on the ground, which was very time-consuming for a densely developed area like Manhattan. Aerial photography allowed for rapidly mapping the entire island from a bird’s-eye view.The aerial mapping project was carried out by a team from the Fairchild Aerial Camera Corporation. They used special large-format cameras mounted onto the underside of airplanes to capture overlapping photographs of every city block from above.
Over 100 hours of flight time were required to photograph the entire 22.8 square mile area of Manhattan at a very high resolution. Thousands of individual photos were meticulously combined into mosaics to form the final maps.The resulting 1924 aerial maps of Manhattan depicted every building outline, street, park, and infrastructure element in incredible detail. They were the most accurate and comprehensive maps of Manhattan ever made at that time.
These pioneering Manhattan maps demonstrated the potential of aerial photography to produce high-quality maps much more efficiently than ground surveying methods, especially in urban environments.Aerial mapping revolutionized the fields of cartography, urban planning, and landscape analysis. The iconic Manhattan images also helped popularize the possibilities of this new perspective from above.
Google Earth, Maps, and Street View
Google Earth allows you to explore the entire planet from your computer or mobile device. It shows a 3D model of the Earth made from satellite imagery. You can zoom in to see highly detailed aerial views of any location.
Google Maps provides digital maps for navigation and exploration. It uses data from satellites, aerial photography, and street-level mapping. Maps shows roads, buildings, terrain, and points of interest like businesses or landmarks.With Maps, you can get turn-by-turn directions for driving, walking, biking or taking public transit. Live traffic data helps avoid jams. You can also find nearby places like restaurants or stores.
Google Street View is a special feature that provides panoramic, 360-degree street-level imagery. Street View cars drove around cities taking photographs to stitch together an immersive experience, like you’re standing on the street.In Street View, you can virtually explore neighborhoods and cities around the world from your device. You can move smoothly along roads and paths while seeing shops, houses, parks and scenery.
All these Google mapping tools combine satellite, aerial, street-level and user-contributed data to build the most comprehensive digital models and maps of the world. And they’re accessible for free on your computer, phone or tablet.With just a few taps, you can see highly detailed streetscapes, navigate with live traffic, plan trips, and explore exotic places from the comfort of your pocket. Google has made it easier than ever before to visualize and understand the entire planet.
Conclusion
Maps have come a long way from primitive depictions to the sophisticated digital tools we have today. The drive to create better maps has been inextricably linked to human exploration and the pursuit of geographic knowledge. From ancient civilizations to modern cartographers, mapmakers have continually pushed the boundaries of what is known, leaving an indelible mark on our understanding of the world. With the advent of technologies like Google Earth, Maps, and Street View, the world has truly become accessible in our pockets, a testament to humanity’s enduring fascination with mapping the planet.
History of Maps- FAQs
What is the oldest surviving world map?
The Babylonian Map of the World, dating back to around 600 BC.
Who created the first world atlas?
Ptolemy, a Greek mathematician and geographer, created the Geographia in the 2nd century AD.
What was the significance of the Mercator map?
It introduced a revolutionary cylindrical projection, making it easier for sailors to navigate across oceans.
Why did ancient mapmakers write “Here Be Dragons” on maps?
To warn about uncharted, unexplored regions that were deemed dangerous or mysterious.
What modern mapping tools allow us to explore the world from our pockets?
Google Earth, Google Maps, and Google Street View.