Evolution of the World Map

1
Evolution of the World Map

• A Antiquity
• B Middle Ages
• C Age of Discovery
• D Modern Era

2
Antiquity

• Herodotus (circa 450 BC)
• Inspired by Pythagoras (530 BC) and his geometry.
• Father of geography.
• Basic physical and human geography.
• Exploration and travel instead of geometry.
• Coined the terms Europe, Asia and Africa (Libya).

Accuracy
Trade route
Distance
Familiar
Accounts
Legends
Terra incognita
3
Herodotus (450 B.C.) (recreation)
4
Antiquity

• Aristotle (circa 350 BC)
• Considered physical elements such as the
  temperature and winds as factors of the human
  habitat.
• Division of the world in 3 climatic zones.
• Relationships between the environment
  (temperature) and human habitat.
• One of the first physical geographer.
• Judged impossible to cross to torrid equatorial
  zone and reach the antipodes.

Frigid
Temperate
Torrid
5
Antiquity

• Eratosthenes (circa 250 BC)
• Formally assumed the earth was round.
• Calculated the circumference of the earth.
• 40,572 km versus the exact figure of 40,091 km.
• Developed the concepts of parallel and meridian.
• Consequently introduced the concept of
  geographical location.
• Created modern cartography (cartographic plane).

6
Eratosthenes (194 B.C.) (reconstruction)
7
Antiquity

• Ptolemy (circa 150 AD)
• Refined the coordinate system.
• Inventory of population and resources.
• Describing the world.
• 8,000 entries.
• Relationships between the physical and human
  elements.
• Created map projections.
• His map would remain the most accurate until the
  age of discovery.

8
Ptolemy's (150 AD) Ulm edition world map, 1482
9
Middle Ages

• Period of decline
• Cartographic and regional approach was lost in
  Europe
• Representation of the world was Christianized.
• Orthodoxy replaced objective observation and
  analysis.
• T and O Maps (Orbis Terrae)
• T is the Mediterranean ( Nile and Black Sea).
• O is the surrounding ocean.
• Greek and Roman knowledge kept by the Byzantine
  Empire and by the Arabs.

T-O map from the Etymologiae of Isidorus, 12th
Century
10
St. Sever World Map after Beatus, 1030 AD
11
Age of Discovery

• Exploration and innovation
• The 15th and 16th centuries were characterized by
  numerous maritime explorations.
• A commercial expansion of European nations.
• Several technical innovations
• The compass, more precise maps.
• Larger ships (they passed from 200 to 600 tons
  during the sixteenth century), better ship
  structures and the rudder.
• Insure a safe, fast and therefore profitable
  maritime navigation.
• Creation of the first accurate world maps.

12
The Americas, 16th Century
13
World Map, circa 1700
14
Modern Era

• A complete world map
• Early 20th century.
• Complete and accurate view of the world.
• Coordinate systems.
• National inventories of resources.
• Widely available atlases.
• Information technologies
• Use of remote sensing (aerial photographs and
  remote sensing).
• Digital maps.
• Mass diffusion through online accessibility.

15
Satellite Composite Image
16
A Virtually Navigable World