A history of mapmaking : Views of the world

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  • A history of mapmaking: Views of the world | The Economist

    http://www.economist.com/node/21561116

    There is no such thing as an objective map

    A History of the World in Twelve Maps. By Jerry Brotton. Allen Lane; 514 pages; £30. Buy from Amazon.co.uk

    AROUND 150AD an astronomer named Claudius Ptolemy wrote a book about how to make a proper map of the world. Penned in Greek on a papyrus scroll, the work, known as the “Geography”, is one of the most famous ancient texts on the science of mapmaking. It placed the job firmly in the domain of the geographer, who could use astronomy and mathematics to calculate from the stars what the world looked like below.

    #cartographie #manipulation