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HISTORY OF CARTOGRAPHY

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HISTORY OF CARTOGRAPHY

The earliest known map is a matter of some debate,
both because the definition of ’’map” is not sharp and because
some artifacts speculated to be maps might actually be
something else.
A wall painting which may depict the ancient
Anatolian city of Qatalhoyuk has been dated to the late 7th
millennium BCE. Other known maps of the ancient world
include the Minoan “House of the Admiral” wall painting
from c. 1600 BCE showing a seaside community in an oblique
perspective, and an engraved map of the holy Babylonian city
of Nippur, from the Kassite period (14th - 12th centuries
BCE).
The ancient Greeks and Romans created maps beginning at latest with
Anaximander in the 6th century BC. Ptolemy’s world map is a map of the known world
(Ecumene) to Western society in the 2nd century A.D. As early as the 700s, Arab scholars
were translating the works of the Greek geographers into Arabic.
In ancient China, geographical literature spans back to the 5th century BC. The
th
oldest extant Chinese maps come from the State of Qin, dated back to the 4 century BC
during the Warring States era.
Early forms of cartography of India included legendary paintings; maps of locations
described in Indian epic poetry, for example the Ramayana. Indian cartographic traditions
also covered the locations of the Pole star, and other constellations of use. These charts may
have been in use by the beginning of the Common Era for purposes of navigation.
Mappa mundi is the general term used to describe Medieval European maps of the
world. Approximately 1,100 mappae mundi are known to have survived from the Middle
Ages. Of these, some 900 are found illustrating manuscripts and the remainder exist as stand-
alone documents.

The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154.
The Arab geographer, Muhammad al-Idrisi, produced his medieval atlas Tabula
Rogeriana in 1154. He incorporated the knowledge of Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Far
East gathered by Arab merchants and explorers with the information inherited from the
classical geographers to create the most accurate map of the world up until his time. It
remained the most accurate world map for the next three centuries.
In the Age of Exploration from the 15th century to the 17th century, European
cartographers both copied earlier maps and drew their own based on explorers' observations
and new surveying techniques. The invention of the magnetic compass, telescope and sextant
enabled increasing accuracy. In 1492, Martin Behaim, a German cartographer, made the