LONDON, July 21 — The history of cartography is a record of human efforts to model reality—or imagined reality—on a flat surface. The earliest known examples remain a subject of scholarly debate. Cartography, the study and practice of making and using maps, combines science, aesthetics, and technique.
Its fundamental objectives include setting the map’s agenda, selecting physical or abstract traits—roads, land masses, toponyms, political boundaries—representing terrain on flat media via map projections, eliminating irrelevant characteristics through generalisation, reducing complexity, and orchestrating elements for audience communication through map design. Modern cartography underlies geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic information science (GISc).
Ancient Beginnings
The earliest known map is contested. A wall painting possibly depicting Çatalhöyük from the late 7th millennium BCE is one candidate. Alpine rock carvings from Mount Bego in France and Valcamonica in Italy, dating to the 4th millennium BCE, show dotted rectangles and lines interpreted as cultivated plots.
Other ancient maps include the Minoan ‘House of the Admiral’ wall painting from around 1600 BCE and an engraved map of Babylon’s holy city Nippur from the Kassite period, 14th to 12th centuries BCE. The oldest surviving world maps come from 9th century BCE Babylonia.
One shows Babylon on the Euphrates surrounded by Assyria, Urartu, and a ‘bitter river’ (Oceanus). Another depicts Babylon north of the world’s centre.
Greek and Roman Contributions
Ancient Greeks and Romans created maps from the 6th century BCE, starting with Anaximander. In the 2nd century CE, Ptolemy wrote Geographia, which contained his world map of the known Ecumene. Arab scholars began translating Greek geographers into Arabic in the 8th century.
Roman roads motivated itinerarium maps; the Tabula Peutingeriana is the only surviving example.
Cartography in Asia
In ancient China, geographical literature dates to the 5th century BCE. The oldest extant Chinese maps are from the State of Qin, dating to the 4th century BCE during the Warring States period. In 1092, the Chinese scientist Su Song published Xin Yi Xiang Fa Yao, which featured a star map on equidistant cylindrical projection.
That is the oldest extant printed star map. Early Indian cartography included depictions of the pole star and surrounding constellations, possibly used for navigation.
Medieval Mappings
Medieval European mappae mundi survive in substantial numbers: about 1,100 are known, some 900 illustrating manuscripts, others standalone. The Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi produced his medieval atlas, the Tabula Rogeriana. For all the noise of historical scholarship, the salient point is that cartographic errors could arise from limitations in projection, generalisation, and available knowledge.
The source material on this history does not detail specific famous mistakes, but the pattern is clear: every map is a product of its time, its tools, and its maker’s assumptions. Modern cartography, underpinned by GIS, has not eliminated those constraints, though it has made them easier to examine.
