Early World Maps
The earliest known world maps date to
classical antiquity , the oldest examples of the 6th to 5th centuries BCE still based on the
flat Earth
paradigm. World maps assuming a
spherical Earth first appear in the
Hellenistic period. The developments of Greek geography during this time, notably by Eratosthenes and Posidonius culminated in the Roman era, with
Ptolemy's world map (2nd century CE), which would remain authoritative throughout the Middle Ages.
Since Ptolemy, knowledge of the approximate size of the Earth allowed cartographers to estimate the extent of their geographical knowledge, and to indicate parts of the planet known to exist but not yet explored as
. With the
Age of Discovery, during the 15th to 18th centuries, world maps became increasingly accurate; exploration of Antarctica, Australia, and the
interior of Africa by western mapmakers was left to the 19th and early 20th century.
Did you know...?
First 'modern' map printed over 500 years ago
While the earliest maps were rudimentary diagrams drawn in caves in pre-historic times, the first proper manuscript maps appeared in the 12th century.
The map of the Holy Land printed in the "Rudimentum Novitiorum," an encyclopedia of world history published in 1475, is considered the first modern printed map.
A sample of the Rudimentum Novitiorum was sold for £500,000 ($829,000) in 2013.
The world's best map collection is in Paris
"The best collection in the world,is that of the
Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris, followed by the Library of Congress in the United States and the British Library," says Crouch.
"Many of what we now regard as the major institutional collections of cartography were actually put together by individuals in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the United Kingdom, the best collection of such material was made by King George III."
The latter collection is known as the
"K.Top" ,and can be found in the British Library.
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