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By Uri Friedman
The rendering of America and Africa in Martin Waldseemuller's 1507 world map (Wikimedia Commons)
In June 2012, Brian McClendon, McClendon, an executive at Google, announced that Google Maps and Google Earth were part o a ar lotier pursuit than edging out !pple and "ace#oo$ in the %ap services %ar$et&& Google, McClendon wrote in a #log %ar$et a #log post, post, was engaged in nothing less than a 'never(ending 'neve r(ending )uest or the perect %ap&' '*e+ve #een #uilding a co%prehensive #ase %ap o the entire glo#e#ased on pu#lic and co%%ercial data, i%ager- ro% ever- level .satellite, aerial and street level/ and the collective $nowledge o our %illions o users,' McClendon noted& B- strapping ca%eras ca%er as to the #ac$s o intrepid hi$ers, %o#iliing users to act(chec$ %ap data, and %odeling the world in , he added, Google was %oving one step closer to %ap%a$ing perection& It was the $ind o technological triu%phalis% that Jerr- Brotton would li$el- greet with a $nowing s%ile& '!ll cultures have alwa-s #elieved that the %ap the- valorie is real and true and o#3ective and transparent,' Brotton, Brotton, a proessor o 4enaissance studies at 5ueen Mar- 6niversit- o 7ondon, told %e& '!ll %aps are alwa-s su#3ective&&&& su#3ective&&&& Even toda-+s online geospatial applications on all -our %o#ile devices and ta#lets, #e the- produced #- Google or !pple or whoever, are still to so%e extent su#3ective %aps&'
understanding o the world at discrete %o%ents in ti%e& In his new #oo$, A History of the World in 12 Maps, Brotton %asterull- catalogs the %aps that tell us %ost a#out pivotal per iods in hu%an histor-& I as$ed hi% to wal$ %e through the 12 %aps he selected .-ou can clic$ on each %ap #elow to enlarge it/& 1. Cartography's Foundation: Ptolemy's Geography (150 AD)
A 15th-century reconstruction based on Ptolemy's projections of the world (Wikimedia Commons)
9u%ans have #een s$etching %aps or %illennia, #ut Claudius :tole%- was the irst to use %ath and geo%etr- to develop a %anual or how to %ap the planet using a rectangle and intersecting linesone that resuraced in 1th(centur- B-antiu% and was used until the earl- 1;th centur-& 8he !lexandria(#ased Gree$ scholar, who %a- never have drawn a %ap hi%sel, descri#ed the latitude and longitude o %ore than <,000 locations in Europe, !sia, and !rica, pro3ecting a north(oriented, Mediterranean(ocused world that was %issing the !%ericas, !ustralasia, southern !rica .-ou can see !rica s$irting the #otto% o the %ap and then #lending into !sia/, the "ar East, the :aciic =cean, and %ost o the !tlantic =cean& :tole%->s Geography was a '#oo$ with a 1,?00(-ear legac-,' Brotton sa-s& 2. Cultural !"hange: Al#$drisi's %orld &ap (115)
Wikimedia Commons
!l(@hari al(Idrisi, a Musli% ro% !l(!ndalus, traveled to @icil- to wor$ or the Aor%an ing 4oger II, producing an !ra#ic(language geograph- guide that drew on Jewish, Gree$, Christian, and Isla%ic traditions and contained two world %aps the s%all, circular one a#ove, and ;0 regional %aps that could #e stitched together& 6nli$e east(oriented Christian world %aps at the ti%e, al(Idrisi>s %ap puts south at top in the tradition o Musli% %ap%a$ers, who considered Mecca due south .!rica is the crescent(shaped land%ass at top, and the !ra#ian :eninsula is in the center/& 6nli$e :tole%- , al(Idrisi depicted a circu%naviga#le !rica#lue sea surrounds the glo#e& 6lti%atel-, the %ap is concerned with representing ph-sical geograph- and #lending traditionsnot %athe%atics or religion& '8here are no %onsters on his %aps,' Brotton sa-s& . Christian Faith: ere*ord's Mappa Mundi (100)
Wikimedia Commons
8his %ap ro% England>s 9ereord Cathedral depicts 'what the world loo$ed li$e to %edieval Christians,' Brotton sa-s& 8he organiing principle in the east(oriented %ap is ti%e, not space, and speciicall- #i#lical ti%eD with Christ loo%ing over the glo#e, the viewer travels spirituall- ro% the Garden o Eden at top down to the :illars o 9ercules near the @trait o Gi#ralter at #otto% .or a %ore detailed tour, chec$ out this hand- guide to the %ap>s land%ar$s/& !t the center is Jerusale%, %ar$ed with a cruciix, and to the right is !rica, whose coast is dotted with grotes)ue %onsters in the %argins& '=nce -ou get to the edges o what -ou $now, those are dangerous places,' Brotton explains& . $mperial Politi"s: +,on +un's +angnido &ap (102)
Wikimedia Commons
*hat>s %ost stri$ing a#out this orean %ap, designed #- a tea% o ro-al astrono%ers led #- won un, is that north is at top& 'It>s strange #ecause the irst %ap that loo$s recognia#le to us as a *estern %ap is a %ap ro% orea in 102,' Brotton notes& 9e chal$s this up to power politics in the region at the ti%e& 'In @outh !sian and Chinese i%perial ideolog-, -ou loo$ up northwards in respect to the e%peror, and the e%peror loo$s south to his su#3ects,' Brotton explains& Europe is a 'tin-, #ar#aric spec$' in the upper let, with a circu%naviga#le !rica #elow .it>s unclear whether the dar$ shading in the %iddle o !rica represents a la$e or a desert/& 8he !ra#ian :eninsula is to !rica>s right, and India is #arel- visi#le& China is the gigantic #lo# at the center o the %ap, with orea, loo$ing disproportionatel- large, to its right and the island o Japan in the #otto% right& 5. -erritorial !ploration: %aldseemuller's Universalis Cosmographia (150)
Viking/Penguin
8his wor$ #- the Ger%an cartographer Martin *aldsee%uller is considered the %ost expensive %ap in the world #ecause, as Brotton notes, it is '!%erica>s #irth certiicate'a distinction that pro%pted the 7i#rar- o Congress to #u- it ro% a Ger%an prince or F10 %illion& It is the irst %ap to recognie the :aciic =cean and the separate continent o '!%erica,' which *aldsee%uller na%ed in honor o the then(still(living !%erigo espucci, who identiied the !%ericas as a distinct land%ass .espucci and :tole%- appear at the top o the %ap/& 8he %ap consists o 12 woodcuts and incorporates %an- o the latest discoveries #- European explorers .-ou get the sense that the woodcutter was as$ed at the last %inute to %a$e roo% or the Cape o Good 9ope/& '8his is the %o%ent when the world goes #ang, and all these discoveries are %ade over a short period o ti%e,' Brotton sa-s& /. Politi"ied eography: i3eiro's %orld &ap (1524)
Wikimedia Commons
8he :ortuguese cartographer iogo 4i#eiro co%posed this %ap a%id a #itter dispute #etween @pain and :ortugal over the Moluccas, an island chain in present(da- Indonesia and hu# or the spice trade .in 1H, the two countries had signed a treat- dividing the world>s newl- discovered lands in two/&
wor$ing or the @panish crown, placed the '@pice Islands,' inaccuratel-, 3ust inside the @panish hal o his see%ingl- scientiic world %aps& 4i#eiro %a- have $nown that the islands .which appear on the ar(let and ar(right sides o the %ap/ actuall- #elonged to :ortugal, #ut he also $new who paid the #ills& '8his is the irst great exa%ple o politics %anipulating geograph-,' Brotton sa-s& . -erritorial a6igation: &er"ator's %orld &ap (15/4)
Wikimedia Commons
Aext to :tole%-, Brotton sa-s, Gerardus Mercator is the %ost inluential igure in the histor- o %ap%a$ing& 8he "le%ish(Ger%an cartographer tried 'on a lat piece o paper to %i%ic the curvature o the earth+s surace,' per%itting 'hi% to draw a straight line ro%, sa-, 7is#on to the *est Coast o the @tates and %aintain an active line o #earing&' Mercator, who was i%prisoned #- Catholic authorities or alleged 7utheran heres-, designed his %ap or European navigators& But Brotton thin$s it had a higher purpose as well& 'I thin$ it+s a %ap a#out stoicis% and transcendence,' he sa-s& 'I -ou loo$ at the world ro% several thousands %iles up, at all these conlicts in religious and political lie, -ou+re li$e ants running around&' Mercator has #een accused o Euro centris%, since his pro3ection, which is still occasionall- used toda-, increasingl- distorts territor- as -ou go urther north and south ro% the e)uator& Brotton dis%isses this view, arguing that Europe isn>t even at the center o the %ap& 7. Commer"ial Cartography: 8laeu's Atlas maior (1//2)
Viking/Penguin
*or$ing or the utch East India Co%pan-, Joan Blaeu produced a vast atlas with hundreds o #aro)ue %aps gracing thousands o pages& '9e>s the last o a tradition the single, #rilliant, %agician(li$e %ap%a$er who sa-s, >I can %agicall- show -ou the entire world,>' Brotton sa-s& 'B- the late 1;th centur-, with 3oint stoc$ co%panies %apping ever- corner o the world, anon-%ous tea%s o people are crunching data and producing %aps&' Blaeu>s %ar$et(oriented %aps weren>t cutting(edge& But he did #rea$ with a %ap%a$ing tradition dating #ac$ to :tole%- o placing the earth at the center o the universe& !t the top o the %ap, the sun is at the center o personiications o the ive $nown planets at the ti%ein a nod to Copernicus>s theor- o the cos%os, even as the earth, divided into two he%ispheres, re%ains at the center o the %ap, in deerence to :tole%- .:tole%- is in the upper let, and Copernicus in the upper right/& 'Blau )uietl-, cautiousl- sa-s I thin$ Copernicus is pro#a#l- right,' Brotton sa-s& 4. ational &apping: Cassini's &ap o* Fran"e (1)
Library of Congress
Beginning under 7ouis I, our generations o the Cassini a%il- presided over the irst atte%pt to surve- and %ap ever- %eter o a countr-& 8he Cassinis used the science o triangulation to create this nearl- 200(sheet topographic %ap, which "rench revolutionaries nationalied in the late 1
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Viking/Penguin
on>t let the %odest- o this 'little line drawing' ool -ou, Brotton sa-s It '#asicall- created the whole notion that politics is driven to so%e extent #- geographic issues&' 8he English geographer and i%perialist 9alord Mac$inder included the drawing in a paper arguing that 4ussia and Central !sia constituted 'the pivot o the world>s politics&' Brotton #elieves this ideathat control o certain pivotal regions can translate into international hege%on-has inluenced igures ranging ro% the Aais to George =rwell to 9enr- issinger& 11. eoa"ti6ism: Peters's Proe"tion (14)
Wikimedia Commons
In 1H;, the let(wing Ger%an historian !rno :eters unveiled an alternative to Mercator>s allegedl- Eurocentric pro3ection a world %ap depicting countries and continents according to their actual
nearl- identical to an earlier design #- the @cottish clerg-%an Ja%es Gall, was a hit with the press and progressive AG=s& But critics argued that an- pro3ection o a spherical surace onto a plane surace involves distortions, and that :eters had a%pliied these #- co%%itting serious %athe%atical errors& 'Ao %ap is an- #etter or worse than an- other %ap,' Brotton sa-s& 'It>s 3ust a#out what agenda it pursues&' The West Wing enshrined the :eters :ro3ection in pop culture during an episode in which the ictitious =rganiation o Cartographers or @ocial E)ualit- lo##ies the *hite 9ouse to %a$e it %andator- or pu#lic schools to teach :eters>s %ap rather than Mercator>s& Gall--Peters Projection
12. ;irtual &apping: oogle arth (2005)
Google is at the oreront o innovations in digital %ap%a$ing, Brotton sa-s& But he also notes that the co%pan- sees %aps as an ad3unct to search and advertising& 'M- )uestion is what gets on %aps, who
Brotton notes, we don>t $now what source code Google and other online %apping applications are using& !nd this at a ti%e when Google, which oers users %ore than 20 peta#-tes o i%ager-, is wor$ing with ar %ore %aterial than a countr- can %atch& 'Co%panies can now produce %aps in %ore detail than, sa-, the 6&& =rdnance @urve-, #ut without an- peer(o#servation pr ocess,' Brotton asserts& '*e alwa-s get the %ap that our age deserves,' he adds& 8his article availa#le online at httpKKwww&theatlantic&co%KinternationalKarchiveK201K12K12(%aps(that(changed(the(world K2<2LLLK Cop-right 201 #- 8he !tlantic Monthl- Group& !ll 4ights 4eserved&
