| We’ve come a long way from the time it was
thought that the Earth was a flat disc supported on an infinity of tortoises. And the
future looks much more promising. A peek into the past. |
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An ancient Babylonian clay tablet depicting the Earth as being a flat circular disk.
 In this T-O map the
"O" represents the known universe which is divided by a "T" into the
three known continents of the time: Europe, Asia, Africa. The map had a strong religious
slant and the centre of the world was Jerusalem and it was thought that paradise was
beyond Asia!
Reconstruction of the world according to Crate, 150
BC |
The Roman map, 20 AD |
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 The earliest evidence of mapping comes from West Asia. Ancient Babylonian clay
tablets depict the earth as a flat circular disk. The Egyptians and Mesopotamians after
that tried to represent their world in the form of figures. Early Eskimos carved ivory
coastal maps and the Incas built relief maps of stone and clay. But as early as 1000 BC,
the Chinese were the most advanced, accurate and detailed mapmakers in the world. They
used their maps to administer their empire, but showed little interest in making world
maps, even though they had knowledge about the world outside China.
WHAT'S THE SHAPE OF THE EARTH?
For that, it was important to know the shape of the Earth.
The Greek thinkers were the most progressive with respect to that. First, Thales proposed
that the Earth was a disc on the ocean. Later, Anaximander modified it to a cylinder, with
the land on its curved surface. Finally, Pythagoras said that the Earth might be a sphere
due to its geometrical
perfection. Aristotle backed this by observation, though this view was not accepted by
most of the world till the fifteenth century.
Eratosthenes, a librarian of Alexandria, first used meridians (longitudes) and
parallels (latitudes) to locate places in relationship to each other in the known world.
PTOLEMY KNEW IT AGES AGO
In 150 AD, Ptolemy compiled known astronomical data and created the first known projection
of the known, spherical world, onto a plane. This was the beginning of scientific
cartography. His coordinate systems are still in use today. In spite of his errors (that
the sun revolved around the earth, and his calculation of the earth as 3/4th its present
known size), he was far ahead of his time.
THE DARK AGE OF MAPS
However soon after Europe entered the dark ages of mapmaking
as the knowledge of Greek thinkers was lost. The view of the world was shaped by
theological concerns and lack of contact with other places. The most interesting maps that
came after that were the T-O maps. That’s because they were shaped in an
"O" and divided by a "T.
These proved to be the main world maps for centuries. But still, during this period,
itineraries and route maps were published for crusaders and pilgrims.
In contrast, Arab maps advanced the earlier Greek practices. Al-Idrisi designed a still
famous world map. The ideas of the Greeks and Ptolemy are preserved in Arabic translation.
But eventually, due to trade and contacts these works start to re-enter Europe. The
Book of Roger, commissioned by a Norman king in Sicily in the 12 century, had maps and a
geography based on Ptolemy. Additional information, probably based on trade in the East
was used to update the Ptolemaic maps.
For various reasons Europe starts to look at the world in a different way. In addition
to a willingness to accept some of the Classical ideas now becoming available, there is
heightened interest in the seafaring trade to Asia.
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