SouthBear's Cartography:
Introduction
CARTOGRAPHY: "kär-'tog-ra-fE" (n.) The science or art of making maps.
                                                                                 - Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Making maps is something human beings have been doing almost as long as they have been able to communicate with one another using language.  The earliest maps were simple diagrams sketched out in the dirt or sand and later etched onto stones and cave walls. They were used to describe where a herd of buffalo, or a grove of fruit trees, or perhaps a stream of clean water had been located.  In the center of these prehistoric maps, the "home base" (the village or camp) was illustrated.  Surrounding the home base was the location of the important elements being described (the herd of buffalo, for example).  As human beings began to contemplate their place in the cosmic order and their relationship to the gods, they produced cartographic illustrations that were not horizontally spatial but vertically spatial, with the gods located above them and sometimes a location described below them where the bad guys dwelled.  These cosmographic maps were often produced to be more permanent and as aesthetically pleasing as possible because they were important as religious icons and statements of faith.
An illustration of an early map, drawn on the "Borno Stone" of  Valcamonica, Italy.  This drawing was made about 2000 BC, just before the beginning of the Central European Bronze Age
Today's maps perform the same function as those early prehistoric maps.  Even with the more sophisticated technology that is used to produce them, today's maps are no more than illustrations of the way we understand our immediate surroundings and our place in that environment, even if that environment includes the entire planet. The phrase "of the way we understand our immediate surroundings" is an important element of this definition because our world view may be dramatically different depending on the culture in which we live, our location on the map, the language we speak, and even our religious perspective.  Remember that a basic element of a map is the "home base" or the location on the map of the people for whom it is drawn.  That home base is usually in the center of the map, and is a dominant feature
because it is the element with which the cartographer and his audience are most familiar.  As a result, the perspective of the map will be different across cultures and nations. A map of the world produced by a Chinese cartographer will be very different from one produced by an African cartographer, which in turn will be different still from one produced by an American cartographer.
Ancient Egyptian cartographers drew maps that we would consider today to be upside-down.  The Nile River flows north and since water always flows down instead of up, and the human tendency is to illustrate this fact on spatial illustrations, the Egyptians' world view placed south (the source of the Nile) at the top and north (the Nile's destination) at the bottom of their maps.  The Mediterranean was always drawn on Egyptian maps at the southern position instead of at the northern position and Ethiopia was always drawn in the northern position.  It isn't that the Egyptians were suffering from vertigo, but their "home base" perspective was dictated by the unusual flow of the Nile, the life-blood of their culture. (Speaking of the Mediterranean, the name "Mediterranean" is another example of the impact culture has on maps.  The Romans named the sea between Europe and Africa as the sea "in the middle of the land" because it was their home base. The Romans always placed the Mediterranean at the center of their maps. All of the lands of the known world were drawn so that they surrounded the sea. And since Italy juts out into the middle of the Mediterranean, this naturally placed their capital, Rome, at the center of the map.)
A cosmograph from Ancient Egypt, depicting the goddess Nut enveloping the Egyptian world
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary's definition of Cartography says that it is the "science or art" of making maps. Not many human professions are described as both a science and an art, but cartography is rightly labeled as both depending on the purpose for which a particular map is created. Some maps are very scientific in nature, using precise measurements of the planet.  Every scientific technology available is used to produce them, from aerial and space photography and the modes of transportation needed to produce these images, advanced mathematics, digital and electric processing, even the latest advances in acid-free paper making, goes into producing these highly precise, scientific maps.  Such maps are capable of leading a person from one place on the planet to another location on the other side of the globe, a location that may be as precise as a specific square foot located in the deepest, most remote reaches of the Congolese jungle.
Other maps, however, are intended to be more artistic, produced more for their aesthetic qualities than for their scientific precision.  The cosmographic maps of early man's cultures are perfect examples of such artistic maps.  They use very little science at all, but rather are artistic, aesthetically-pleasing illustrations of our place in the cosmic order of the universe.  Even maps that had once been based on the most current scientific methods available at the time they were created are today used as art because, while they have outlived their scientific usefulness, people still admire their antiquarian and aesthetic qualities.  And, true enough, since aesthetic beauty is a qualitative characteristic, and depends "on the eye of the beholder," even the most scientifically technical maps could very well be considered pieces of art by some. For example, I possess a map from the mid-20th century, a geological map of the state of Mississippi that was used by my grandfather in his work as a geologist.  It is very technical and based on the most current geological knowledge of the region at the time.  Some would find very little artistic quality to it.  However, to me it is one of my most treasured possessions.  It is beautiful because it possesses color used to differentiate the many geological formations of Mississippi.  But more than that, it is part of my heritage, a tool of science for my grandfather, but a piece of art for me because he used it, studied it, and touched it throughout much of his life.  Not many sciences and scientific products (even the geology practiced by my grandfather) can possess such artistic qualities.
A map from the Neolithic Period. This is quite possibly the very first example of urban planning in the history of mankind.  It is a city map of Huyuk, Turkey.
A property map from ancient Mesopotamia in what is now Iraq. This map is about 4000 years old.
This is a land-use map from Valcamonica in the Italian Alps. It was drawn during the Bronze Age and illustrates the location of agricultural plots, roads, and houses..
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© 2006 SouthBear

This page was created on 18 November 2006 in Birmingham, Alabama
Date of Last Revision: 18 November 2006 in Birmingham, Alabama