What is Map?  The map drawn by Hecataeus in the 6th century B.C.

shows the
world as an island, with Greece at its center.
 Maps are considered as one of the most important geographical
tool.  However, by the time of Aristotle, around 350 B.C, everyone
 The term map is derived from the Latin word mappa , which accepted the spherical earth concept.
signifies napkin, cover cloth, or tablecloth.
 Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria was the first to illustrate the earth
 A map is a representation of all or a portion of the earth, drawn to
as spherical in his world map, which covered the Old World from
scale and usually on a plane or flat surface.
latitudes of about 60˚N to 30˚S
 The use of maps started in the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia
and China.  Ptolemy collated all known information, and produced his Geografia
 The Greeks and Romans advanced the science of mapmaking. in about 150 A.D., which was to form the basis for much of the
 But it was the Europeans who really drove its development from the subsequent mapping for over 1000 years.
15th to 17th centuries.
 Anaximander (611-547 B.C.) was believed to have created one of
The Early Maps the earliest Greek maps. His map showed the known world at that
time, consisting of southern Europe, western Asia Minor, and the
 The earliest maps were crude and inaccurate documents .
northern margin of Africa
 It was believed that the first map was nothing more than a rough
 A map made by Eratosthenes about 200 B.C. showed, in addition,
sketch of game trails and water holes traced in the dust with the
the broader outlines of the British Isles, a larger section of Asia
end of a stick
Minor, and a distorted presentation of India
 The science and art of making maps dates back at least to
Medieval and Renaissance Mapmaking
Babylonian kingdom about 2300 B.C.
 During the Dark Ages (Medieval Period), most maps were
 Earliest known maps were created on clay tablets, showing
dominated by religious views and while the Church of Rome was the
settlements, crop fields and irrigation sources.
driving force behind mapmaking, Jerusalem was the center of the
 Mesopotamian maps of around 1600 B.C. depict cities and tracks known world.
between fields and the built up areas.
 The Hereford Mappa Mundi, showing Jerusalem at the center and
 These are typical of early maps, which show settlements, hunting the east to the top.
grounds, water sources, land boundaries and significant landscape
 It was drawn on a sheet of vellum 64x54 inches supported by an oak
features.
frame.
 It is upon similar physical principles that modern maps are based.
 Most of the writing was with black ink, with red and gold leaf used
for emphasis, and blue or green for rivers and seas.
 As Europe started to embrace the new era of the Renaissance and
rose slowly from the Dark Ages, there was a marked and renewed
interest in maps.
 By 1500 there were world maps that showed, though in
considerably distorted form, Europe, Africa, and most of Asia.
Importance of Map
 By 1507, a map appeared that indicated the separate existence of
the Americas and a fuller appreciation of the true size of the earth.
 In 1529, another map showed not only parts of the Americas and
Asia, but made room in between them for the vast Pacific, which
the Magellan voyage had disclosed to an amazed world.
 Famous maps were made by Gerhard Kramer better known as
Mercator followed.
 Gerardus Mercator developed the cylindrical map projection known
as the Mercator Projection in 1569.
 Maps are just representation of reality and not reality itself.
 Mapmakers look at the face of the earth and then decide what to
place on the map.
 Maps are subjective and not objective as their appearance and
features all depend on the mapmaker or cartographer.

 The great European explorers like Christopher Columbus, Vasco da

Gamma, Sebastian Cabot, Amerigo Vespucci and Ferdinand
Magellan all took mapmakers along on their voyages to map out
new lands that they discovered.

 These ocean maps, or navigational charts, were very highly valued

for commercial and military purposes.

 The Danish geographer, Clausson Cardinal Nicholas Krebs developed

the first modern map of Germany.

 Erhard Etzlaub produced the Romweg in 1500, which is regarded as

the earliest route map.

 In 1508, Rosselli produced the first map to show the entire known
world.

 In 1513, Martin Waldseemuller produced the first known atlas,

which was made up of 20 maps of France.

 Waldseemuller is best known for producing his map of America in

1508, after the exploration by Amerigo Vespucci of the New World.