Cartography: From Antiquity to the Present

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Despite the fact that a mistake in navigation sometimes leads to wonderful discoveries - thanks to Columbus for the hammock and pineapples - correct orientation in space using maps has always occupied an important place in human history. While works such as Ptolemy's map are now practically useless for navigation, they provide valuable insight into what cartographers, explorers, and geographers of their time understood about the world around them. And, say, the Mercator map is of value today, because without it, it would not be possible to create various cartographic projections. We decided to figure out what we know about cartography and how humanity has come a long way from wall paintings to GPS.

Cartography is both an art and a science of mapping and requires a steady hand, attention to detail, and an in-depth knowledge of geography. Early cartography should be viewed as a mathematical discipline because it determines the location of objects in space, and mathematics has always been the science of measurement. You can view over 82,000 digitized maps from different eras on the website of David Ramsay, who owns the world's largest private collection of maps.

Some of the cave paintings and carvings on bones and prehistoric artifacts, long considered purely artistic, according to recent research, have proven to be early maps of hunting grounds, streams, and even the location of the stars.

The earliest recorded depiction of the route is considered a mural, which was made around 6200 BC. e. in Chatal Huyuk in Anatolia - it shows the location of the streets and houses of the city, as well as the surrounding objects, such as a volcano. The mural was discovered in 1963 near present-day Ankara in Turkey, but it is uncertain whether the mural is an early map or some kind of stylized painting.

Ancient world

The Egyptians also made maps and routes, however, since they used papyrus for these purposes, an extremely short-lived material, very little cartographic evidence of Egypt has survived to our time. But what exactly can be said with certainty about the era BC is that the early maps reflected religious beliefs regarding the forms of the world.

For example, maps on Babylonian clay tablets dating from about 600 BC. BC, show Babylon and its surroundings in a stylized form, where the city is represented by a rectangle, and the Euphrates River - by vertical lines. The named area is depicted as round and surrounded by water, which corresponds to the religious image of the world in which the Babylonians believed.

However, we can talk about the emergence of cartography as a discipline only from the beginning of Greek civilization, when the geographers of the era began to scientifically assess the circumference of the Earth. Ptolemy, Herodotus, Anaximander, Eratosthenes - these are just some of the names of people who have had a huge impact on Western earth sciences, including geography. They conducted an in-depth study of the size and shape of the planet, its habitable regions, climatic zones and the position of countries.

Anaximander, a thinker and student of Thales of Miletus, was the first to draw a map of the known world. It has not survived to our times, but nevertheless, thanks to the description of Herodotus, we have an idea of how it might look: the world known to the ancient thinker was depicted in a circle and was located on the Earth, which had the shape of a drum. The map contained two continents, "Europe" and "Asia", ten settlements and was divided from top to bottom.

Although Anaximander may have been the first Greek geographer, the title "Father of Geography" was given to the Libyan-Greek scientist and philosopher Eratosthenes, who lived between 276-194 BC. e. It was he who invented the word "geography" (and wrote about this in a three-volume book, which has been preserved in fragments), and also became the first person who was able to calculate the size of the Earth (having been mistaken by only 2%), using the axial inclination of the planet in the measurement and, perhaps even its distance from the Sun.

The greatest contribution of Eratosthenes to the science of creating maps was the concept of latitude and longitude: he owns one of the earliest maps of the known world (220 BC), which shows parallels and meridians, which indicates the scientist's idea that the Earth round.

Roman Empire and cartography

In the Roman era, unlike the Greeks, who were primarily interested in science, the cartographers of Rome focused on the practical use of maps, military and administrative needs. The need to control the empire financially, economically, politically and militarily motivated the creation of maps that reflected administrative boundaries, physical characteristics of land, or road networks.

Roman maps were more or less limited to a territory that included what was called "Mare Nostrum", since the Mediterranean was the core of the Roman Empire around which all administrative regions were distributed.

That the Romans as a whole made little contribution to cartography is a bit odd given their skills in road building, which required precise geodetic measurements. Who knows, maybe it was the mathematical nature of the map that prevented the "non-mathematical" Romans from advancing the discipline?

Ptolemy wrote his Geography around AD 150. e. and collected in it the available knowledge about the geography of the world at that time. The work mentioned a system of latitude and longitude, as well as a means of describing the locations of objects on Earth based on astronomical observations from these areas. The astronomer's original maps were never found and were presumably lost, but his work was descriptive enough for cartographers to recreate the observations and create a map of Ptolemy in 1300.

Middle Ages

As soon as Christianity spread throughout Europe, the dominant claim was that the truth about the world is contained exclusively in the Bible, so in those places where biblical quotes contradicted the scientific discoveries of pre-Christian times, science was rejected as pagan folly.

Among other things, biblical quotes, despite all the discoveries of the Greeks, convinced some that the Earth is a circle, not a sphere, and others that the Earth is a rectangle (according to quotes from Isaiah about the "four corners of the Earth"). Thus, during the Middle Ages, Western progress in the field of cartography stalled.

On the other hand, the real flowering began in the Arab, Persian and Muslim world, where scholars continued and advanced the tradition of creating maps, mainly following the methods of Ptolemy. During this era, cartographers also began to use the knowledge and notes of explorers and traders who traveled throughout the Muslim world.

While Christian Europe was creating religious ideas about the world, for the first time, a new type of charts for sailors began to appear - portolans - in the manufacture of which a magnetic compass was used. The earliest known portolans, showing coastlines and islands, date from the early 14th century and are either Italian or Catalan maps. The first portolans covered the Mediterranean and Black Seas, showing wind directions and other information useful to sailors.

The revolution of cartography in Europe took place only in the 15th century, and the main motivation was, firstly, the discovery of new lands, and secondly, the increase in the availability of maps thanks to the invention of the printing press.

Tabula Rogeriana by al-Idrisi is not just a map of the world, but a carefully composed geographic text that describes the natural features, ethnic and cultural groups, socio-economic and other characteristics of each area mapped.

The work was created for the King of Sicily, Roger II, and in preparing it, al-Idrisi used both his own extensive travel experience and conversations with other explorers and the services of draftsmen, who were paid to travel the world and plot their routes. … The maps in Tabula Rogeriana describe the world as a sphere and break it down into seventy rectangular sections, each of which is detailed in notes.

Fra Mauro's map was created by a monk around AD 1450. e. and is considered one of the finest works of medieval cartography. A large round map, about two meters in diameter, painted on parchment and stretched out in a wooden frame, depicts the world known at that time - Europe, Asia and Africa. Fra Mauro's map is oriented towards the south, which is located at the top.

The Hereford Mappa mundi, created by Richard of Haldingham and Lufford in 1285–1290, is renowned for being the largest medieval map still in existence, as well as one of the most meticulously drawn and colored. The map itself is round, in its center is Jerusalem, and in the upper part is the Garden of Eden in a ring of fire.

The map is oriented towards the east, which is located at the top, and its strange feature is that Europe is mistakenly labeled as Africa, and vice versa. Although the map is round, experts do not consider this proof that the cartographer believed in a flat earth: the map is seen as a type of projection with uninhabited areas to the north and south. "Mappa mundi" is a general term for maps of medieval Europe.

Early modern period

The printing industry, as well as the development of various measurement methods and instruments, have made cartographers influential people since the 16th century. Commercial expansion, colonization of new parts of the world, and the search for opportunities for military superiority over other countries have made it imperative to create accurate maps. The greatest progress in cartographic science of that era occurred in 1569, when the first maps of Gerard Mercator were published.

The 16th century also saw significant improvements in trigonometry, mathematical instrument making, astronomy, and geography. The German mathematician Regiomontanus was among the first to realize that accurate coordinates of places are needed to compile accurate maps and that the biggest problem is calculating longitude - he proposed to solve it using the method of calculating lunar distances.

The follower of Regiomontanus was Johann Werner of Nuremberg, whose geographical work, the book "In Hoc Opere Haec Cotinentur Moua Translatio Primi Libri Geographicae Cl'Ptolomaei" (1514), contains a description of an instrument with an angular scale that allows you to read degrees. Werner also introduced a method for determining longitude based on lunar eclipses and studied cartographic projections, all of which had a strong influence on Gerard Mercator.

Mercator himself created many new maps and globes, but his greatest contribution to cartography is the Mercator projection. At some point, the cartographer realized that all this time the sailors had incorrectly assumed that following a certain compass course would make them travel in a straight line.

A ship sailing to a certain point on the compass will follow a curve called a loxodrome. The globe, which Mercator created in 1541, first showed these lines of irregularities and was a step in developing the idea of projection, which Mercator first used in 1569 for a wall map of the world on 18 separate sheets.

Gerard Mercator's world map is known as the first attempt to "correctly" represent a round earth on a flat surface. Because it is a cylindrical projection, the map does not have a consistent scale for a round earth, which distorts the distances near the poles.

It is also interesting that on this map Greenland seems larger than Africa. In general, as a map of the world, the Mercator projection has significant drawbacks (like all projections), but for nautical charts this is undoubtedly the best decision that was ultimately accepted by all sailors.

The Ricci map was drawn by the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci in 1602 and is the oldest surviving Chinese map showing America. China is located in the center of the world on the map.

Modern period

After the Industrial Revolution, trade and commerce began to flourish around the world. The era of the post-industrial revolution led to the emergence of a middle class that could afford the luxuries of books and travel. Geographers and cartographers have responded to the growing demand: the large, almost artistic mapmaking so popular in previous centuries has given way to more practical and portable maps with fine detail. The cards began to gradually lose their decorative value.

By the 17th and 18th centuries, scientific advances paved the way for further improvements, and advances in cartography became dependent on the availability of funds to pinpoint the location of locations. Calculating latitude has long been no longer a problem thanks to the sextant, but longitude was still not so easy.

In addition to the difficulties with the methods of calculating it, the question arose about establishing a zero mark. To establish cartographic standards, an international agreement was needed: the Greenwich meridian as the zero longitude mark was adopted in 1884 at the International Conference on Meridians.

The second main reference point was the equator. Finally, another decision had to be made to standardize maps, namely how the map would be oriented. Now it seems quite logical to us to place north on top and south on bottom, but in fact this is a completely arbitrary decision.

The French cartographer Nicolas de Fer was less a scientist and more an artist. De Fer is known for producing over 600 maps, and while they probably would not have won any prizes for geographic accuracy, his work was prized for sheer beauty and decorative qualities. This was enough to make Nicolas de Ferre the royal geographer of the French Dauphin, Duke of Anjou.

Newest time

The computer has become the most important tool in modern cartography - now the overwhelming majority of people know maps in the form of GPS navigation and posters with images of countries hanging over the desks of schoolchildren. Although theoretically the very possibility of drawing maps in the modern world has not gone anywhere, now such an occupation is a very narrow field for connoisseurs and does not imply practical application.

Although modern cartographers do not enjoy the same respect as their counterparts during the time when handwritten and engraved maps were expensive art, cartography is still a very complex discipline. Few cartographers are only cartographers: usually a person of this profession combines an artist, an engraver and a writer. But whoever he is, one common feature unites all cartographers, and this passion for the world around him.

Maps that changed the world

Map of Heinrich Martell (1490)

The map was compiled by a German cartographer and reflects the latest theories about the shape of the world and the most accurate ways to display it on a flat surface. Columbus is said to have used this map (or a similar one) to persuade Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile to support his journey in the early 1490s. And if you look at the map, there really is no great sea distance between Europe and China - as Columbus thought.

World map by Martin Waldseemüller (1507)

On this map, for the first time, America is named and considered as a separate continent. The map was created by the experienced cartographer Martin Waldseemüller and was accompanied by an explanatory brochure by the poet and cartographer Matthias Ringmann. Impressed by the work of the Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci, Ringmann suggested that America was not a part of Asia, as Columbus thought, but an independent continent.

Chinese Globe (1623)

Designed for the Chinese emperor, it is the earliest known Chinese globe to show the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. Its creators are believed to be Jesuit missionaries Manuel Diaz (1574-1659), who brought the telescope to China, and Nicolo Longobardi (1565-1655), the chief general of the Chinese mission. Dear scholars, they presented an image of the globe that contrasted with traditional Chinese maps: it was normal for them to exaggerate the size of China and place it at the center of the world.

Descriptive Map of London Poverty (1889)

Businessman Charles Booth was skeptical of the 1885 claim that a quarter of Londoners lived in extreme poverty. To check the situation, Booth hired people to investigate, who found the real figure to be 30%. The results of the study were mapped, and the state of the people on the map was mapped using seven color categories: from black for the "lowest class, semi-criminal" to gold for the wealthy. Horrified by the results, the London authorities built the first council houses.

Be on guard! (1921)

At the beginning of the 20th century, a very young state - the USSR - was threatened by invasion, famine and social unrest. A number of successful Soviet artists and graphic artists were hired to help Bolshevik propaganda, including Dmitry Moor, the author of the poster above. The image with the map of the European part of Russia and its neighbors, as well as the image of the heroic Bolshevik guard defeating invading enemies, helped to define the place of the Soviet Union in the Russian national consciousness.

Google Earth (2005)

For almost the first time in history, the ability to create an accurate map and indicate on it what you think is necessary has been handed over to anyone who wants it. If you are not very interested in marking the nearest store on the map, the opportunity to look at the Earth from space and look for unusual objects on the surface of our planet is also quite a good bonus.