Most modern individuals have seen, studied, or read maps, or even created their own for school projects or helping friends and neighbors reach a destination. Maps are so prevalent in our lives, available at every gas station, grocers or bookstore that they are taken for granted by the majority of citizens. However, readily available and highly accurate maps were once the prized possessions of a few wealthy and privileged persons. To understand these pieces of paper, which appear simple to most of us, is to understand the science of and history of cartography, an art more than 4,000 years in the making.
The First Mapmakers
Mapmaking development independently among several of the world's first civilizations, with the first maps credited to the Babylonians in 2,300 B.C. Some of the clay tablets from this period depicted one town or area, while others depicted much larger regions. These tablets also showed the world as a flat, circular disk. The Chinese also created maps, many of their creations being more accurate and intricate than their counterparts from other cultures around the globe.
The Ancient Greeks further advanced mapmaking. Ptolemy, who lived from approximately 85 – 165 A.D., created the first world map, and his reference guide, the Geographike hyphygesis, became the standard for all mapmakers and historians until the European Renaissance.
Technological Advances in Mapmaking
The Flemish cartographer Gerhardus Mercator created the Mercator Projection in 1568, a mathematical way to show the spherical Earth on a flat surface by stretching the poles. His charts enabled sailors to more easily navigate their ships and the Mercator Projection is still used today. Other mathematical mapmaking formulations based on Mercator's work include the Miller Projection.
Even with the advent of mathematical projections, many parts of the world, particularly those in remote regions, remained poorly understood, and thus remained off maps, until World War I. Aerial photography enabled cartographers to more accurately render areas that up until the 1900s people could not travel by foot or land vehicle. With the advent of satellite technology during the latter half of the 20th century mapmaking advanced even further, enabling people to view not just regions of the Earth, but the whole Earth itself under a wide range of conditions.
Thanks to the work of countless individuals throughout the ages, a Rand McNally map, Thomas Brothers Guide, or other cartographical wonders are available practically everywhere for those with a few dollars in their pocket and a location they wish to find.
