Scientists have compiled an ancient map of the world. When were the first maps created? Methods of cartographic representation

Objectives: Study additional literature on this topic; get acquainted with the role and significance of the map; paying special attention to the impact it has on the development of the country; trace the “fate” of the geographical map from its “birth” to the present. Goal: get acquainted with the history of the creation of a geographical map

Introduction. Cartography is the science of displaying and understanding natural and socio-economic geosystems through maps as models. Cartography originated in ancient times; there are even references to maps in the Bible. The first manuals on cartography were compiled in ancient Greek. scientist K. Ptolemy. Cartography flourished during the Renaissance and the Great Geographical Discoveries. The authors of the famous world maps and the first atlases were the Dutch cartographers G. Mercator and A. Ortelius. In Russia, the development of cartography is associated with the names of S. U. Remezov, V. N. Tatishchev, F. F. Schubert,

The creator of the first geographical map is considered to be the ancient Greek scientist Anaximander. In the VI century. BC he drew the first map of the then known world, depicting the Earth as a flat circle surrounded by water. In the 3rd century. BC The ancient Greek scientist Eratosthenes wrote the book "Geography", using the terms "geography", "latitude" and "longitude" for the first time. The book consisted of three parts. The first part outlined the history of geography; the second describes the shape and size of the Earth, the boundaries of land and oceans, the climates of the Earth; in the third, the land is divided into parts of the world and sphrageds - prototypes of natural zones, and a description of individual countries is also made. He also compiled a geographical map of the populated part of the Earth.

In the II century. AD The ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy summarized and systematized the knowledge of ancient scientists about the Earth and the Universe in his eight-volume work “Guide to Geography,” which during the 14th centuries enjoyed such great popularity among scientists, travelers, and merchants that it was reprinted 42 times.

Ptolemy compiled a detailed map of the Earth, the like of which no one had ever created before. It depicted three parts of the world: Europe, Asia and Libya (as Africa was then called), the Atlantic (Western) Ocean, the Mediterranean (African) and Indian Seas. The rivers, lakes and peninsulas of Europe and North Africa known at that time were depicted quite accurately.

The first map of Russia, called the “Big Drawing,” was compiled, as scientists suggest, in the second half of the 16th century. However, neither the “Big Drawing” nor its subsequent supplemented and modified copies have reached us. Only the appendix to the map has survived - “The Book of the Large Drawing”. It contained interesting information about the nature and economic activities of the population, the main roads and main rivers as routes of communication, about “cities” and various defensive structures on the borders of the Russian state.

Peter I considered it a matter of national importance to draw up a map of Russia, which would help in the development of little-known areas of the country, in particular in the study sea ​​route from Novaya Zemlya to the "Tatar Sea" (obviously the Pacific Ocean), where he wanted to establish shipyards to build ships to send them to China, Japan and other countries.

Conclusion. Maps don't just help us get from point A to point B. They can serve as a political tool and a snapshot of history, and can reflect the fears and prejudices of their era, says historian Jerry Brotton. One of the amazing things about geographic maps is that people are unwilling to accept the most basic fact of cartography, namely that a map cannot be a 100% objective, accurate representation of our world. Talk to any cartographer and he will tell you that the algorithm for turning a globe into a flat image always leads to certain distortions, manipulations and selectivity. Simply because a circle cannot be turned into a square. But for most people who use maps every day - be it a satnav, online mapping, a mobile phone app or even the good old paper map- the idea that a map is only a partial, selective snapshot of the Earth is simply unbearable.

The creator of the first geographical map is considered to be the ancient Greek scientist Anaximander. In the VI century. BC e. he drew the first map of the then known world, depicting the Earth as a flat circle surrounded by water.
In the 3rd century. BC e. The ancient Greek scientist Eratosthenes wrote the book "Geography", using the terms "geography", "latitude" and "longitude" for the first time. The book consisted of three parts. The first part outlined the history of geography; the second describes the shape and size of the Earth, the boundaries of land and oceans, the climates of the Earth; in the third, the land is divided into parts of the world and sphrageds - prototypes of natural zones, and a description of individual countries is also made. He also compiled a geographical map of the populated part of the Earth.
In the II century. n. e. The ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy summarized and systematized the knowledge of ancient scientists about the Earth and the Universe in his eight-volume work “Guide to Geography,” which during the 14th centuries enjoyed such great popularity among scientists, travelers, and merchants that it was reprinted 42 times.
Ptolemy's "Geography" contained, as already mentioned, all the information about the Earth available at that time. The maps included with it were very accurate. They have a degree grid. Ptolemy compiled a detailed map of the Earth, the like of which no one had ever created before. It depicted three parts of the world: Europe, Asia and Libya (as Africa was then called), the Atlantic (Western) Ocean, the Mediterranean (African) and Indian Seas. The rivers, lakes and peninsulas of Europe and North Africa known at that time were depicted quite accurately, which cannot be said about the lesser-known areas of Asia, which were reconstructed based on fragmentary, often contradictory, geographical information and data. 8000 (eight thousand) points from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean were plotted according to coordinates; the position of some of them was determined astronomically, and most were plotted along routes. The map is extended in an easterly direction. Half of the map is devoted to famous countries. In its southern part there is a huge continent called the Unknown Land.
The first map of Russia, called the “Big Drawing,” was compiled, as scientists suggest, in the second half of the 16th century. However, neither the “Big Drawing” nor its subsequent supplemented and modified copies have reached us. Only the appendix to the map has survived - “The Book of the Large Drawing”. It contained interesting information about the nature and economic activities of the population, the main roads and main rivers as routes of communication, about “cities” and various defensive structures on the borders of the Russian state.
The first globe was created by the German scientist Martin Beheim. His model of the Earth was published in I492, the year when Christopher Columbus set off to the shores of fabulous India by the western route. The globe depicted Europe, Asia, Africa, which occupy about half of the entire surface of the Earth, and no North and South America, Antarctica, or Australia. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans are presented as a single water basin, and in place of the Indian Ocean are the East Indian Ocean and the Stormy South Sea, separated by a vast archilag of islands. The outlines of the oceans and continents are far from reality, since the creation of the globe was based on information based on the ideas of ancient geographers and data from Arab and other travelers who visited the countries of the East, India and China.
The first geographical atlas was created in I570. All navigators of the 16th and early 17th centuries. used this atlas, which consisted of 7o (seventy) large format maps, accompanied by explanatory text.
Its creator is the famous Dutch cartographer Abraham Ortelius. Each map of his atlas is carefully engraved on copper and provided with a degree grid. On the map of the hemispheres, the continents of the Old and New Worlds were depicted in all details, but their outlines did not yet correspond to reality. One of the maps is dedicated to the Southern continent (Magelania

A person is always driven by curiosity. Thousands of years ago, discoverers, going further and further into unknown lands, created the first semblances of geographical maps, trying to put the relief they saw on sheets of papyrus or clay tablets.

Probably the oldest map found is from the Egyptian Museum in Turin, made on papyrus by order of Pharaoh Ramses IV in 1160 BC. e. This map was used by an expedition that, on the orders of the pharaoh, was looking for stone for construction. The map familiar to our eyes appeared in ancient Greece half a thousand years BC. Anaximander of Miletus is considered the first cartographer to create a map of the world known at that time.

The originals of his maps have not survived, but 50 years later they were restored and improved by another scientist from Miletus, Hecataeus. Scientists have recreated this map based on the descriptions of Hecataeus. It is easy to recognize the Mediterranean and Black Seas and nearby lands. But is it possible to determine distances from it? This requires a scale that was not yet available on ancient maps. For a unit of measurement of length, Hecataeus used “days of sailing” on the sea and “days of marching” on dry land, which, of course, did not add accuracy to the maps.

Ancient geographical maps also had other significant shortcomings. They distorted the image, because a spherical surface cannot be turned onto a plane without distortion. Try to carefully remove the orange peel and press it to the table surface: you won’t be able to do this without tearing. In addition, they did not have a degree grid of parallels and meridians, without which it is impossible to accurately determine the location of the object. Meridians first appeared on the map of Eratosthenes in the 3rd century BC. e., however, they were carried out through different distances. It was not for nothing that Eratosthenes was called the “Father of Geography” as a mathematician among geographers. The scientist not only measured the size of the Earth, but also used a cylindrical projection to depict it on the map. In this projection there is less distortion because the image is transferred from the ball to the cylinder. Modern maps are created in different projections - cylindrical, conical, azimuthal and others.

The most perfect maps of the ancient era are considered to be the geographical maps of Ptolemy, who lived in the 2nd century AD. e. in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Claudius Ptolemy entered the history of science thanks to two large works: the “Manual of Astronomy” in 13 books and the “Manual of Geography”, which consisted of 8 books. 27 maps were added to the Geography Manual, among them a detailed map of the world. No one created a better one either before Ptolemy or 12 centuries after him! This map already had a degree grid. To create it, Ptolemy determined the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of almost four hundred objects. The scientist determined latitude (distance from the equator in degrees) by the altitude of the Sun at noon using a gnomon, longitude (degree distance from the prime meridian) by the difference in the time of observations of the lunar eclipse from different points.

IN medieval Europe The works of ancient scientists were forgotten, but they were preserved in the Arab world. There, Ptolemy's maps were published in the 15th century and reprinted almost 50 more times! Perhaps it was these maps that helped Columbus on his famous voyage. Ptolemy's authority grew so much that even collections of maps were called "Ptolemies" for a long time. It was only in the 16th century, after the publication of Gerardus Mercator’s Atlas of the World, on the cover of which Atlas was depicted holding the Earth, that collections of maps were called “atlases.”

IN Ancient China They also created geographical maps. Interestingly, the first written mention of geographical map not related to geography. In the 3rd century BC. e. The Chinese throne was occupied by the Qin dynasty. A rival in the struggle for power, Crown Prince Dan sent an assassin to the ruler of the dynasty with a map of his lands drawn on silk fabric. The mercenary hid a dagger in a bundle of silk. History tells that the assassination attempt failed.

In the era of the Great Geographical discoveries Images of America and Australia, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans appeared on world maps. Errors on maps often resulted in tragedy for sailors. Having explored the shores of Alaska, the large Kamchatka expedition of Vitus Bering in the 18th century did not have time to return to Kamchatka by the beginning of the autumn storms. The dreamer Bering spent three weeks of precious time searching for the mapped but non-existent Land of Gama. His sailing ship "St. Peter", broken, with sailors dying of scurvy, landed on a deserted island, where the famous Commander rested forever. “My blood boils every time,” wrote one of Bering’s assistants, “when I remember the shameless deception caused by an error on the map.”

Today, cartography is completely transferred to digital format. To create detailed maps They use not only ground-based geodetic instruments - theodolite, level, but also airborne laser scanning, satellite navigation, and digital aerial photography.

Illustration: depositphotos.com | Kuzmafoto

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A grandfather and a woman are sitting on a bench near the hut. Grandfather says:
- Look, tourists are coming. Now they will ask for directions.
- How do you know?!
- You see - they took out a map... they are looking at the compass.

History of the origin of cards

(how it was)

It is difficult to say when the first prototype of the map appeared. Apparently, many thousands of years ago, when a person first needed to explain to his fellow tribesmen how to get to a source or cave suitable for habitation. We still draw similar “maps” - diagrams today in order to explain to our interlocutor the location of an object.

First professional cards originated in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. The development of the state associated with trade and the development of new lands would be very difficult without maps.

The first map of the world known to us in the modern sense of the word was compiled by the Greek materialist philosopher Alexander of Miletus (about 610 BC). It depicts the earth as a cylinder surrounded by water. In the 4th century BC.

Aristotle, observing the round shadow of the earth, at the moment of a lunar eclipse came to the obvious conclusion that only a spherical object could give such a shadow. In the Middle Ages, the initiative in the development of geography and cartography passed to the scientists of the East. Abu Reyhan Muhammad ibn Ahmed al Biruni created his own geodesy or determined the boundaries of places to clarify the distances between villages. The situation changed with the beginning of the great era of great geographical discoveries.

Since that time, the ability to determine the coordinates of a geographical object and draw a map of the area has become a common skill for sailors and explorers of new lands. By the end of the 16th century. the entire European part of the continent has already been studied and described in detail, which cannot be said about the Asian part.

Experts note the accuracy with which the maps indicate, amazing for that time: Chukotka, western Alaska, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, China, Mongolia, India. Under Tsar Peter the Great, a state topographic and cartographic service was established in Russia. In the 19th century there were no unexplored objects left on the world map, with the exception of some islands Pacific Ocean, Northern polar and subpolar regions.

The introduction of the metric system and the prime meridian greatly simplified the language of maps. Modern geodesy and cartography are fundamentally different from the science of the past. Satellite navigation systems make it possible to create maps of different scales with extraordinary accuracy. But today, like hundreds of years ago, the good old sextant is indispensable for a navigator and astronomer-geodesist.

P.S.- Sextant (in navigation - sextant) - a navigational measuring instrument,

used to measure the height of the sun above the horizon

in order to determine the geographic coordinates of the area.

- anecdote about modern map instead of an epilogue:

The company is going on a planned business trip:
- Is the city big?
- No, 3 megabytes...
And continues to download the map to the phone.

First map, which is mentioned, was created on a piece clay.

What are cards for?

Imagine how difficult it would be to describe in words all the buildings in your city. It’s easier to depict their position.

This is the map!

The first map that is mentioned was created on a piece of clay, which was then fired. This was in Egypt over 4000 years ago.

How were the cards used?

In ancient times, landowners depicted their possessions on maps, and kings depicted the lands of their kingdom.

But when a person tried to depict the location of distant objects on a map, he encountered.

This is due to the fact that the Earth is round, so measuring large ones is enough.

And astronomers helped in creating maps

Astronomers provided great assistance to the first cartographers, since their research was related to the size and shape of the Earth.

Eratosthenes, who was born in 276 BC in Greece, determined the diameter of the Earth. His data was close to real.

His technique made it possible for the first time to correctly calculate the distance to the north and south.

Parallels and meridians

Around the same time, Hipparchus proposed dividing the world map into equal parts along parallels and meridians.

The exact position of these imaginary lines, he believed, would be based on study.

Ptolemy in the second century AD, using this idea, created a revised map, divided into equal parts by parallels and meridians.

His textbook on geography was the main one on this subject even after the discovery. The discoveries of other travelers also expanded interest in maps and charts.

When was the first collection of maps published?

In 1570, Abraham Ortelius published the first collection of maps in Antwerp. The founder of modern cartography is Geradus Mercator.

On his maps, the straight lines corresponded to the curved lines on the globe. This made it possible to draw a straight line on the map between two points, and also to determine using a compass.

Such a map is called a “projection”; it “projects” or transfers the surface of the Earth onto a map.

Why are maps also called atlas?

On the title page of the book (collection of maps) by Abraham Ortelius the giant Atlas was depicted.

That is why today we call a collection of maps an “atlas”.

The invention of an English cartographer

The world's first puzzle was invented by English cartographer John Spilsbury around 1760. But it was not intended for entertainment, but for educational purposes, since it was a map of Europe cut into states. This teaching method was very visual and the children really liked it, and only many years later did other people come up with the idea of ​​producing game puzzles.