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Map Facts
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"The language of cartography is so ingrained that it has become invisible. We do not question the connection between the blue line on the map and the idea of a 'river'."
- Simon Paterson
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Title
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Description
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Map History
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The oldest known map dates from the 5th millennium BCE. The advent of geometry, first used in Babylonia around the 23rd century BC, was a major development in mapmaking. The Greeks developed the science of map projections, which are methods of representing the curved surface of the earth on a plane, and are credited with developing the concept of longitude and latitude.
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| The Greeks |
Pythagoras of Ionia, who developed what became the basis of mathematics, was the first notable person to say that the earth was a sphere. Eratosthenes, Anaximander, and Hipparchus are credited with developing the concept of longitude and latitude, and Eratosthenes seems to have developed the equirectangular map projection around 200 BCE. |
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| Copernicus, Nicolaus |
(1473-1543)
Revolutionized astronomy by proposing the Sun, not Earth, as the center of the solar system. |
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| Galileo, Galilei |
(1564-1642)
Invented the first astronomical telescope. |
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| Mercator, Gerald |
(16th century)
Dutch cartographer who invented the "Mercator Projection"; a way to accurately project the spherical world onto a flat chart or map. First to use the word "Atlas" for a book of maps. |
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| Ptolemy, Claudius |
(A.D.2)
Egyptian astronomer who held the Earth was the center of the universe. Developed map projections as well, including the equidistant conic around 150 BCE. |
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| Naming America |
In 1505, Rene II, the Duke of Lorraine ordered a group of scholars led by Martin Waldseemuller to draft a new world map.He gave them a French translation of Amerigo Vespucci's travels and as a result, the scholars decided to name the new landmass "America" after the traveller's first name. |
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