Portal:Maps
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The Maps and Cartography Portal
A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes.
Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or fictional, without regard to context or scale, such as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the earth, three dimensional, such as the interior of the earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modeling phenomena having many independent variables.
Although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the medieval Latin Mappa mundi, wherein mappa meant napkin or cloth and mundi the world. Thus, "map" became a shortened term referring to a two-dimensional representation of the surface of the world. (Full article...)
Cartography (/kɑːrˈtɒɡrəfi/; from Greek χάρτης chartēs, "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and γράφειν graphein, "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. (Full article...)
Selected article -
The Piri Reis map is a world map compiled in 1513 by the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis (Turkish: [piːˈɾiː ɾeis]). Approximately one third of the map survives; it shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy. Various Atlantic islands, including the Azores and Canary Islands, are depicted, as is the mythical island of Antillia and possibly Japan.
The map's historical importance lies in its demonstration of the extent of exploration of the New World by approximately 1510, and in its claim to have used a map made by Christopher Columbus, otherwise lost, as a source. Piri also stated that he had used ten Arab sources and four Indian maps sourced from the Portuguese. More recently, the map has been the focus of claims for the pre-modern exploration of the Antarctic coast. (Full article...)General images -
The Yu Ji Tu, or Map of the Tracks of Yu Gong, carved into stone in 1137, located in the Stele Forest of Xian. This 3 ft (0.91 m) squared map features a graduated scale of 100 li for each rectangular grid. China's coastline and river systems are clearly defined and precisely pinpointed on the map. Yu Gong is in reference to the Chinese deity described in the geographical chapter of the Classic of History, dated 5th century BC. (from History of cartography)
A portrait of a mapmaker looking up intently from his charts and holding a caliper, 1714. (from History of cartography)
"Mapa de los Estados Unidos de Méjico by John Distrunell, the 1847 map used during the negotiations of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the Mexican–American War. (from History of cartography)
Possibly the oldest surviving map has been engraved on this mammoth tusk, dated to 25,000 BC, found from Pavlov in the Czech Republic. (from History of cartography)
Infinitesimal elements on the sphere and a normal cylindrical projection (from Scale (map))
The Fra Mauro map, a medieval European map, was made around 1450 by the Italian monk Fra Mauro. It is a circular world map drawn on parchment and set in a wooden frame, about two meters in diameter (from History of cartography)
Scale variation for the Lambert (green) and Gall (red) equal area projections. (from Scale (map))
Detail of Catalan Atlas, the first compass rose depicted on a map. Notice the Pole Star set on N. (from History of cartography)
The equidistant projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation (from Scale (map))
The Mercator projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation. (The distortion increases without limit at higher latitudes) (from Scale (map))
An early Western Han Dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD) silk map found in tomb 3 of Mawangdui Han tombs site, depicting the Kingdom of Changsha and Kingdom of Nanyue in southern China (note: the south direction is oriented at the top, north at the bottom). (from History of cartography)
World map Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Ortelius (1570). The period of late 16th and much of the 17th century (approximately 1570–1670s) has been called the "Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish cartography" (also known as the "Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography"). (from History of cartography)
The Equal Earth projection (2018), an increasingly popular equal-area pseudocylindrical projection for world maps (from Cartographic design)
Clay tablet with map of the Babylonian city of Nippur (ca. 1400 BC) (from History of cartography)
The Winkel tripel projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation (from Scale (map))
Blaeu's world map, originally prepared by Joan Blaeu for his Atlas Maior, published in the first book of the Atlas Van Loon (1664). (from History of cartography)
Portugal by Waghenaer (1584). The publication of Waghenaer's De Spieghel der Zeevaerdt (1584) is widely considered as one of the most important developments in the history of nautical cartography. (from History of cartography)
Map of Biscayne National Park, Florida, using a variety of point symbols, along with line and area symbols. Note the use of coordinated fill and stroke symbols for the national park area to solve the challenge of a water boundary. (from Cartographic design)
Lambert's normal cylindrical equal-area projection with Tissot's indicatrix of deformation (from Scale (map))
A chorochromatic map of world land cover, using hue, value, and saturation to differentiate nominal values (from Cartographic design)
Modern version of the Roman Tabula Peutingeriana (5th century). (from History of cartography)
A well-composed transit map of Istanbul, with a high degree of contrast between the symbols, creating a strong visual hierarchy (transit lines are and look most important), figure-ground, and selectivity (the green national rail line can be isolated when necessary). Also note the harmonizing subdued tones of green and blue in the background. (from Cartographic design)
The 1569 Mercator map of the world. (from History of cartography)
- (c) Dariusz Ciach, 2003, CC-BY-SA-2.5
The world according to Herodotus, 440 BC (from History of cartography)
3D cartography of Washington State, Mount Rainier National Park, Pinnacle Peak trail. (from Cartographic design)
A graphical or bar scale. A map would also usually give its scale numerically ("1:50,000", for instance, means that one cm on the map represents 50,000cm of real space, which is 500 meters) (from Scale (map))
A general map of the world by Samuel Dunn, 1794, containing star chart, map of the Solar System, map of the Moon and other features along with Earth's both hemispheres. (from History of cartography)
The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by Muhammad al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154. Note that the north is at the bottom, and so the map appears "upside down" compared to modern cartographic conventions. (from History of cartography)
Scale variation near the equator for the tangent (red) and secant (green) Mercator projections. (from Scale (map))
CIA map of Iraq, following typical labeling guidelines to maximize legibility and association (from Cartographic design)
World Map by Diogo Ribeiro. (from History of cartography)
World Map by Juan de la Cosa (1500), the first map showing the Americas. (from History of cartography)
Charles Joseph Minard's map of Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812 (1844) has been long recognized as a masterwork of cartographic design at a time when such was difficult and rare. (from Cartographic design)
The world according to Anaximenes, c. 500 BC (from History of cartography)
A survey of Boston Harbor from Atlantic Neptune. (from History of cartography)
A bar scale with the nominal scale , expressed as both "1cm = 6km" and "1:600 000" (equivalent, because 6km = 600 000cm) (from Scale (map))
A typical map from the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. Australasia during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (c. 1590s–1720s) including: Nova Guinea (New Guinea), Nova Hollandia (mainland Australia), Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), and Nova Zeelandia (New Zealand). (from History of cartography)
Universalis Cosmographia, the Waldseemüller wall map dated 1507, depicts the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Ocean separating Asia from the Americas, by the Italian Amerigo Vespucci. (from History of cartography)
Surviving fragment of the first World Map of Piri Reis (1513) showing parts of the Americas. (from History of cartography)
Map of the Holy Land, Pietro Vesconte, 1321. Described by Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld as "the first non-Ptolemaic map of a definite country" (from History of cartography)
The Da Ming Hun Yi Tu map, dating from about 1390, is in multicolour. The horizontal scale is 1:820,000 and the vertical scale is 1:1,060,000. (from History of cartography)
The pundit (explorer) cartographer Nain Singh Rawat (19th century) received a Royal Geographical Society gold medal in 1876. (from History of cartography)
- (c) Dariusz Ciach, 2003, CC-BY-SA-2.5
The world according to Hekatæus, 500 BC (from History of cartography)
The Gough Map, a road map of 14th-century Britain (from History of cartography)
Reconstruction of Pomponius Mela's world map. (from History of cartography)
A chart of an unidentified area (from History of cartography)
Nautical chart by Pedro Reinel (c. 1504), one of the first based on astronomical observations and to depict a scale of latitudes. (from History of cartography)
Martin Behaim's Erdapfel (1492) is considered to be the oldest surviving terrestrial globe. (from History of cartography)
Illustrated map (from Cartographic design)
Infinitesimal elements on the sphere and a normal cylindrical projection (from Scale (map))
Al-Masudi's world map (10th century) (from History of cartography)
Selected quote
| “ | Typical Englishman John Smith is more concerned about David Beckham's fitness than his own wife's. Typical Chinese man Som Young Guy is not trying to grow the population of his country for over one month. Typical German Jurgen wants to check from the map that where about in Europe the cheating Uruguay is located. | ” |
| — Aki Riihilahti | ||
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Gerardus Mercator (/dʒɪˈrɑːrdəs mɜːrˈkeɪtər/; 5 March 1512 – 2 December 1594) was a 16th-century geographer, cosmographer and cartographer from the County of Flanders. He is most renowned for creating the 1569 world map based on a new projection which represented sailing courses of constant bearing (rhumb lines) as straight lines—an innovation that is still employed in nautical charts.
Mercator was a highly influential pioneer in the history of cartography. Along with Gemma Frisius and Abraham Ortelius, he is generally considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography and geography. He is also widely considered the most notable figure of the school. In his own day, he was a notable maker of globes and scientific instruments. In addition, he had interests in theology, philosophy, history, mathematics and geomagnetism. He was also an accomplished engraver and calligrapher. Unlike other great scholars of the age, he travelled little and his knowledge of geography came from his library of over a thousand books and maps, from his visitors and from his vast correspondence (in six languages) with other scholars, statesmen, travellers, merchants and seamen. Mercator's early maps were in large formats suitable for wall mounting but in the second half of his life, he produced over 100 new regional maps in a smaller format suitable for binding into his Atlas of 1595. This was the first appearance of the word Atlas in reference to a book of maps. However, Mercator used it as a neologism for a treatise (Cosmologia) on the creation, history and description of the universe, not simply a collection of maps. He chose the word as a commemoration of the Titan Atlas, "King of Mauretania", whom he considered to be the first great geographer. (Full article...)List of selected biographies |
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Did you know
- ... that Leda Valladares produced a "Musical Map of Argentina" to document her country's folk music traditions?
- ... that the Maple River State Game Area contains the only known inland salt marsh in the state of Michigan?
- ... that the 1864–65 Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem created the first "perfectly accurate" map of the city, and was the impetus for the new Palestine Exploration Fund?
- ... that Rose Lee Maphis and her husband Joe Maphis, known as Mr. and Mrs. Country Music, helped develop the Bakersfield sound?
- ... that engraver Abraham Goos and merchant Jacob ben Abraham Zaddiq were responsible for the first map of the Holy Land printed in Hebrew?
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Map projection: Azimuthal equidistant - "Butterfly" - Dymaxion - Gall–Peters - General Perspective - Goode homolosine - Mercator - Mollweide - Orthographic - Peirce quincuncial - Robinson - Sinusoidal - Stereographic
Maps: Animated mapping - Cartogram - Choropleth map - Estate map - Geologic map - Linguistic map - Nautical chart - Pictorial map - Reversed map - Road atlas - Thematic map - Topographic map - Weather map - Web mapping - World map
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Media files used on this page
Charles Minard's 1869 chart showing the number of men in Napoleon’s 1812 Russian campaign army, their movements, as well as the temperature they encountered on the return path. Lithograph, 62 × 30 cm
"The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972 by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,000 kilometers (18,000 statute miles). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula.
"The Blue Marble" is a famous photograph of the Earth taken on December 7, 1972, by the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft en route to the Moon at a distance of about 29,000 kilometres (18,000 mi). It shows Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Author/Creator: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Map of the world in a Lambert cylindrical equal-area projection with Tissot's Indicatrix of deformation.
Each red circle/ellipse has a radius of 500 km.
Scale : 1:5,000,000
Author/Creator: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Topographic map in English of the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin / Sint Maarten, divided between French and Dutch halves.
Note: the shaded relief is a raster image embedded in the SVG file.
Signature of Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594) from Narrative and Critical History of America, Volume 4, 1883, page 371
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Clay tablet containing city map of Nippur
The scale factors for the tangent and secant Mercator projections over an interval close to the equator. The bounds at 1.0004 and 0.9996 delimit the region of high accuracy.
Melchisedech Thevenot (1620?-1692): Hollandia Nova detecta 1644; Terre Australe decouuerte l'an 1644, Paris: De l'imprimerie de Iaqves Langlois, 1663 Based on a map by the dutch cartographer Joan Blaeu. Langlois, 1663.
Author/Creator: Designmodo http://www.designmodo.com/, Licence: CC BY 3.0
Linecons by Designmodo
Author/Creator: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Map of the world in a Winkel tripel projection with Tissot's Indicatrices of deformation.
Each red circle/ellipse has a radius of 500 km.
Scale : 1:5,000,000
Author/Creator: T. Hengl, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
MOD12C1 17 land cover classes defined by the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP)
Class definition[1] Color Code[2]
Color code
Map of the World
Author/Creator: Sterilgutassistentin, Licence: GPL
Stabkarte, cropped
Author/Creator: me, Bamse, Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2006, world map (English, svg-version). Using the IMF-data at w:List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita as a source. Blank worldmap taken from commons.
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Author/Creator: http://maps.bpl.org, Licence: CC BY 2.0
Zoom into this map at maps.bpl.org. Author: Des Barres, Joseph F. W. Publisher: J.F.W. Des Barres Date: 1781. Location: Boston Bay (Mass.)
Scale: Scale not given. Call Number: G3762.B6P5 1781.D4
This survey of Boston Harbor, first published in 1775 in Des Barress Atlantic Neptune, was the pre-eminent chart of the harbor produced in the 18th century. It was used by the Royal Navy during the American Revolution, and long after that conflict by American and English merchants. The chart was based on surveys by George Callendar, master of His Majestys Ship Romney, stationed in Boston Harbor in 1769. Displayed here is the fourth state of the chart which depicts the inland topography in great detail. Roads, taverns, streams and farmhouses are shown throughout the countryside.
Official National Park Service map of Biscayne National Park, Official National Park Service map of Biscayne National Park, Florida. Converted from PDF using Adobe Acrobat X Professional. Original file name:
BISCmap1.pdf .svg)
Shows relationship between infinitesimal elements on sphere and plane.
World Map of Pomponius Mela, rotated for north up and be comparable with modern maps
The Gough Map or Bodleian Map is a road map of Great Britain, dating from around 1360. The Gough Map is the oldest extant map of the roads of medieval Britain. It is about 115 x 56cm large and was made around 1360. It is named after Richard Gough, who donated the map to the Bodleian Library in 1809. East is on the top.
Author/Creator: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Map of the world in an equirectangular projection with Tissot's Indicatrix of deformation.
Each red circle/ellipse has a radius of 500 km.
Scale : 1:5,000,000
Ortelius World Map Typvs Orbis Terrarvm, 1570.
Fra Mauro map (1460)
Map of the world by Ottoman admiral Piri Reis, drawn in 1513. Only half of the original map survives and is held at the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. The map synthesizes information from twenty maps, including one drawn by Christopher Columbus of the New World
Author/Creator: Strebe, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Equal Earth projection. 15° graticule. Imagery is a derivative of NASA’s Blue Marble summer month composite with oceans lightened to enhance legibility and contrast. Image created with the Geocart map projection software.
The Lambert and Gall are equal area projections. The green curves commencing at k=1 are for the Lambert: the parallel scale (k) increases from k=1 at the equator to infinity at the pole and the meridian scale decreases from 1 at the equator to zero at the pole. The product hk=1 guarantees equal area. In the Gall (red) the parallel scale increases (to infinity)from k=0.707 at the equator and the meridian scale decreases from k=1.414 at the equator to zero at the pole. Both Gall scales are equal, h=k=1, on the standard parallel (defined by k=1) at a latitude of 45 degrees.
Author/Creator: TKN, Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
Graphical scale bar in combination with a scale expressed as a ratio and a conversion help.
Author/Creator: Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa), Licence: CC BY-SA 2.5
Istanbul Rapid Transit Map (subway, tramway, suburban trains, Busway, funiculars and aerial tramways)
World map - Produced in Amsterdam
First edition : 1689. Original size : 48.3 x 56.0 cm. Produced using copper engraving. Extremely rare set of maps, only known in one other example in the Amsterdam University. No copies in American libraries. In original hand color.
Carta do Mundo de Mercator (1569)
Author/Creator: No machine-readable author provided. Roke~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., Licence: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Order of independence of African nations 1950-1993, as listed on List of countries by date of nationhood. Made in photoshop from various historical maps on wikipedia all based on Vardion's Image:BlankMap-World.png
Author/Creator: Zde, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Engraving on a mammoth tusk perhaps representing a “map”, Pavlov (Břeclav DIstrict, Southern Moravia, Chech Republic), deposited in ArÚ AVČR Brno. Gravettian. Original. Length 37 cm. Temporary exhibition the Mammoth hunters in the NM Prague.
Ocean Currents and Sea Ice from Atlas of World Maps, United States Army Service Forces, Army Specialized Training Division. Army Service Forces Manual M-101 (1943).
Map of Iraq showing major cities.
The Chinese Yu Ji Tu (Map of the Tracks of Yu the Great), a map carved into stone in the year 1137 during the Song Dynasty, located in the Stele Forest of modern-day Xian, China. Yu the Great refers to the Chinese deity described in the Chinese geographical work of the Yu Gong, a chapter of the Classic of History. Needham and Chavannes assert that the original map must have predated the 12th century.
The graduated scale of this gridded map is at 100 li (Chinese mile) squared for every representative square in the grid. The overall size of the map is 3 ft squared. The coastal outline is relatively firm and the precision of the network of river systems is incredibly accurate. The name of the geographers and cartographers who initially created the map are unknown. In the year 1142 a copy of the map was preserved at Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province by a certain Yu Chi, who was then a Prefectural Director of Studies. There is also mention of an earlier copy of about 1100 AD which itself was based on the Chang'an version. Needham asserts that the map was used primarily to instruct students while referring to sites described in the ancient Yu Gong chapter of the Classic of History.
This image is taken from Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth, on the page PLATE LXXXI, as well as described on pages 547 to 549 (hardback copy). I, PericlesofAthens, took the photo of this public domain image.
Part of Tabula Peutingeriana, konrad miller´s facsimile from 1887
Page 19, South China Sea, Inset maps of Singapore strait, Jokohama, Batavia, Sunda Strait
Portuguese nautical chart by Pedro Reinel, c. 1504.
Cartographie du sentier du sommet Pinnacle, Parc National du Mont Rainier, Etat de Washington, USA.
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First compass rose depicted on a map, detail from the Catalan Atlas (1375), attributed to cartographer Abraham Cresques of Majorca.
Author/Creator: , Licence: Cc-by-sa-3.0
The world according to Anaximenes, c. 500 BC
Author/Creator: Alexander Franke (Ossiostborn), Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0 de
Terrestrial globe named "Erdapfel" produced by Martin Behaim. Considered to be one of the oldest globes ever made.
World Map (Original text: National Library of Australia World Map)
Description=Carta universal en que se contiene todo lo que del mundo se ha descubierto fasta agora, hizola Diego Ribero cosmographo de su magestad, año de 1529, e[n] Sevilla / La cual se devide en dos partes conforme A la capitulacion que hizieron los catholicos Reyes de españa y el rrey don Juan de portogual En Tordesillas Año de 1494
Facsimile made in London by W. Griggs, ca. 1887?
1 map on 2 sheets: col.; 58 x 140 cm., sheets 61 x 79 cm and 61 x 66 cm.
Note: "Reproduced from the original in the Museum of the 'Propaganda' in Rome, lent by His Holiness Pope Leo XIII, by W. Griggs, London."
Sea map of Portugal; title: Gedaente en ... vant Landt van Portugal; from: Mariner’s Mirror (T'eerste deel vande Spieghel der zeevaerdt, van de navigatie der Westersche zee, innehoudende alle de custen van Vranckrijck, Spaingen ende 't principaelste deel van Engelandt, in diversche zee caerten begrepen", Leiden, Christoffel Plantijn, 1584)
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New and 'most accurate' world map, by J.Bleau.
Waldseemüller map from 1507 is the first map to include the name "America" and the first to depict the Americas as separate from Asia. There is only one surviving copy of the map, which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 2001 for $10 million.
Copy of Al Idrisi Tabula Rogeriana with arabic names translitterated into the roman alphabet. The original has north at the bottom, so it appears "upside down". Please do not rotate it to have north at the top, as we seek to preserve the original.
Author/Creator: Own work based on User:Philg88, Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Relief map of Sikkim. Coordinates: bottom=27.0355 right: 88.921 top: 28.1374 left: 87.9456
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The map of the Holy Land by Marino Sanudo (drawn in 1320)
Map orientation: north pointing left
An absolutely stunning and monumental double hemisphere wall map of the world by Samuel Dunn dating to 1794. This extraordinary map is so large and so rich in detail that it is exceptionally challenging to do it full justice in either photographic or textual descriptions. Covers the entire world in a double hemisphere projection. The primary map is surrounded on all sides but detailed scientific calculations and descriptions as well as northern and southern hemisphere star charts, a map of the Moon, a Latitude and Longitude Analemma chart, a map of the Solar System, a Mercator projection of the world, an Analemma projection, a seasonal chart, a universal scale chart, and numerous smaller diagrams depicting planets and mathematical systems. All text is in English. We will start our survey of this map in North America, much of which was, even in 1794, largely unknown. This map follows shortly after the explorations of Captain Cook in the Arctic and Pacific Northwest, so the general outline of the continent is known. However, when this map was made, few inland expeditions had extended westward beyond the Mississippi. This map notes two separate speculative courses for the apocryphal River of the West, a northern route extending from Lake Winnipeg and a southern route passing south of Winnepeg through Pike's lake. The River of the West was hopeful dream of French and English explorers who were searching for a water passage through North America to the Pacific. In concept, should such a route be found, it would have become an important trade artery allowing the British and French, who's colonies dominated the eastern parts of North America, to compete with the Spanish for control of the lucrative Asia-Pacific trade. Little did these earlier speculative cartographers realize the bulk of the Rocky Mountains stood between them and their dreams! Slightly south of the Rivers of the West, we find the kingdom of Quivira, which is one of the lands associated with Spanish legends of the Seven Cities of Gold. In this area we can also find Drake's Harbor or Port de la Bodega and Albion. Drake's Harbor is where Sir Francis Drake supposedly landed during his circumnavigation of the globe in 1580. Drake wintered in this harbor and used the abundant resources of the region to repair his ships. He also claimed the lands for England dubbing them New Albion. Although the true location of Drake's port is unknown, most place it much further to the north. By situating it and consequently New Albion further to the south, Dunn is advocating a British rather than Spanish claim to this region. On the Eastern coast of North America we find a fledgling United States extending from Georgia to Maine. Dunn names Boston, New York, Charleston, Long Island, and Philadelphia, as well as the important smaller towns of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Edonton. South America exhibits a typically accurate coastline and limited knowledge of the interior beyond Peru and the populated coastlands. A few islands are noted off the coast, including the Galapagos, which are referred to as the Inchanted Islands. The Amazon is vague with many of its tributaries drawn in speculatively. Dunn and d'Anville have done away with the popular representation of Manoa or El Dorado in Guyana, but a vestigial Lake Parima is evident. Further south, the Laguna de los Xarayes, another apocryphal destination, is drawn at the northernmost terminus of the Paraguay River. The Xaraiés, meaning Masters of the River were an indigenous people occupying what are today parts of Brazil's Matte Grosso and the Pantanal. When Spanish and Portuguese explorers first navigated up the Paraguay River, as always in search of El Dorado, they encountered the vast Pantanal flood plain at the height of its annual inundation. Understandably misinterpreting the flood plain as a gigantic inland sea, they named it after the local inhabitants, the Xaraies.
The Composite Map of the Ming Empire (Da Ming Hunyi Tu) reflects the political situation in AD 1389 but was likely painted much later. Original Chinese labels were later covered with Manchu on paper slips.
A Chinese topographic map (with the south positioned at the top) from Mawangdui tomb 3; dated to the early Western Han period (183–168 BC); length is 96 cm; width is 96 cm; the map is made of ink on silk. It is now housed in the Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha. The map depicts a large territory in southern China spanning from the imperial fiefdom of Changsha (a semi-autonomous kingdom within the Han Empire, now modern-day Hunan) to the independent and sometimes hostile Kingdom of Nanyue in what is now modern-day Guangdong and northern Vietnam.
"Map of the United States of Mexico, according to what has been organized and defined by the various acts of the Congress of said republic, created by the best authorities."
Author/Creator: Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting), Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
Map of the world in a Mercator projection (cropped at 85° of latitude) with Tissot's Indicatrix of deformation.
Each red circle/ellipse has a radius of 500 km.
Scale : 1:5,000,000