Babylonian Map: 2300 B.C.
This Babylonian map, which is the first known map, represents someone's property.
History Of Mapping
This is a time line explaining the evolution of different inventors, explores, tools and maps.
Start
Stick Maps: 1000 BCE
This was a map that sailors used to go from one place to another.
Cross-Staff: 1300 BCE
This was a tool used to figure out what latitude they were at. The main flaw with this tool is that you had to look directly at the sun which blinded some people.
Hecataeus Map: 500 BCE
This was the map made by the Greece. these maps did not have a scale. they measured the distance using the time it took to get there like for example 10 days of marching.
Eratosthenes: 276 BC - 194 BC
Eratosthenes was a very influential person of his time. He was the first person to calculate the size of the earth accurately.
Astrolabe: 200 BC
The Astrolabe was a metal disk with a pointer that can be used to figure out your latitude.
Ptolemy: 90 - 168
Ptolemy's contributions towards maps was enormous. He did a lot of things like coin the term geography, create an ATLAS, create scale and even invent projections.
Ptolemy's Map: 130 ACE
130 ACE was Ptolemy's Map was reviled. His map has some improvements such as a scale but he also had some weird ideas like how there were angles that blow on the earth to make wind. Another flaw was the fact that his map stated that the earth was only 18K miles around.
Leif Erickson: 970 - 1020
He might be the first European to travel to America but he was deffinetly here before columbos.
Compass: 1100/1200
The compass was invented by the Chinese and then later by the Europeans. This is a fool proof tool that has a needle that always points towards the magnetic north.
Zheng He: 1371 - 1433
Zheng He was a Chinese explorer that travelled to America.
T-O Maps: 1050 - 1450
The T-O Map was a popular middle ages (400-1450 ACE) map because Jerusalem was at the centre of the map. this is significant as Jerusalem is an important place for a lot of religions and in the middle ages, everyone was very religious.
Christopher Columbus: 1451 - 1506
Columbus was the person who put America on the map. Even though he didn't discover it he got credit for it.
Ferdinand Magellan: 1420 - 1521
Ferdinand Magellan was the first person to circumnavigate the world(at least his crew was).
Francisco Pizarro: 1476 - 1541
He was a conquistador that captured the Incas.
Hernán Cortés: 1485 - 1547
Hernán Cortés was a Spanish conquistador. He won Mexico for Spain but in the process killed a lot of Aztec and by a lot I mean all.
Gerardus Mercator: 1512 - 1594
He created the Mercator projection.
Mercator Projection: 1569
This was made by Gerardus Mercator. This map is still used to this day by Google and other map makers.
Sextant: 1757
Sextants can measure up to 60 degrees. It is still used to this day in ships to find their location.