Cartography

GPS: Make a right turn.
Dwight: Wait! Wait! Wait! No! No! No! It means bear right, up there.
Michael: No, it said right, it said take a right.
Dwight: No! No! No, look, it means go up to the right, bear right, over the bridge and hook up with 307.
Michael: Maybe it's a shortcut Dwight. It said go to the right.
[turns right]
Dwight: It can't mean that! There's a lake there!
Michael: The machine knows where it is going!
Dwight: This is the lake!
Michael: The machine knows---stop yelling at me!

This conversation between Michael and Dwight from “The Office” made me realize how important maps are to everyday life and how much mapping technology has evolved from rock drawings to 3-D topographical maps made by computers. Maps play a major role in our understanding of history, they are the oldest form of non-oral communication, and they pre-date written language. A map is a two-dimensional representation of the earth’s surface, and humans have been producing them since their early history on this planet.

Early humans were wanderers and they probably used crudely drawn maps to describe their surroundings or give directions to features. Some of the earliest archaeological evidence of maps comes from rock art such as a town plan map from Catal Huyuk or from the Babylonian clay tablets inscribed sometime during the 5th century BCE. Babylon is depicted at the center of the world, and the map shows the Euphrates River, other surrounding cities, the Persian Gulf, and it represents the earth as a flat disk surrounded by ocean. Maps from China dating back to 168 BCE were drawn on silk and describe natural features, relief, cities, and road networks to a fairly accurate scale. (Below) Early maps were rough and numerous, but there are two common themes that are found in early mapmaking. The first is that maps represented the earth as flat and only described local landscape. The second theme is that early mapmakers placed their cities or towns at the center of map.

Mapmaking evolved, and as trade expanded, so did geographers’ and early mapmakers’ awareness of the wider world around them. The Greek geographer Eratosthenes, used the geometry of a sphere to calculate the size of earth. New technologies, such as the printing press, made map production more efficient and made it possible for maps to pass between peoples. Cartographers made attempts to map the known world and revise existing older maps. Most maps made in the 12th and 13th century in Europe were based upon the work of Ptolemy, a Greek scientist, astronomer, mathematician, and geographer, who lived somewhere around 90 to 168 CE. Most of the information about Ptolemy comes from second hand sources as mapmakers in later centuries transcribed his geocentric view of the cosmos, his understanding of map projections, and his geographic descriptions including a descriptive coordinate system. Mapmakers would draw maps and attribute them to Ptolemy’s work (notice how this map is drawn in 1482 but is based on Ptolemy.) There were many contributors to mapmaking in the classical era, and they laid the foundation for future explorers. During the age of exploration in the 15th century, Europeans became aware of the North and South American landmasses and confirmed that the Greek view of Earth as a sphere was correct.

All ancient cultures, from the Mayans to the Chinese, produced maps. Mapping has evolved from making simple descriptions of local surroundings to using satellite technology and GPS units to describe an exact location anywhere on earth, but the purpose of maps has not changed. They delineate boundaries, show ownership, and facilitate navigation.

Another interesting website with a database of historical maps from the 14th century to current day is managed by the University of Texas.

Sources:
Harley, J B., and David Woodward, eds. The History of Cartography. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Print.

Seager, Joni . Maps University of Vermont, n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/unpacking/mapsmain.html