Title: 8 Remarkable Early Maps - HISTORY
Headings: 8 Remarkable Early Maps
8 Remarkable Early Maps
Explore eight of the most important maps from the early history of cartography.
1. The Babylonian World Map
2. Ptolemy’s Geography
3. The Peutinger Map
4. The Tabula Rogeriana
5. The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu
6. The Cantino Planisphere
7. The Waldseemüller World Map
8. The Mercator Projection

Content: By drawing from interviews with travelers and his own wanderings through Europe, al-Idrisi also compiled extensive data on the climate, politics and culture of different regions. The Tabula Rogeriana remained among the world’s most accurate maps for several centuries, but it may appear strange at first glance—in the tradition of Islamic cartographers, al-Idrisi drew it with south positioned at the top. 5. The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu
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The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu. ( Credit: Public Domain)
One of the earliest surviving world maps from the Far East, China’s Da Ming Hun Yi Tu, or “Amalgamated Map of the Ming Empire,” was drawn on silk as early as 1389. The map spans the entire Eurasian continent from Japan to the Atlantic Ocean, and includes detailed markings of mountain ranges, rivers and administrative centers. It is particularly notable for the way in which it distorts the size of various landmasses. Mainland China sits like a monolith in the middle of the map, while Japan and Korea are both far larger than India. The African continent, meanwhile, is depicted as a relatively small peninsula with what appears to be a giant lake in its center.