(Originally Published on 30th September 2020 | Language of original article: Marathi)
Who made the first map? What was it like? How did the name ‘Atlas’ originate? Interesting information about maps at the root of today’s GPS and MAP systems – Where to go? How to get there? Answers to many such questions are easily available on a small screen. Now, how long it will take by which vehicle, what are the alternative routes, where there is more traffic, answers to these are also readily available. Maps are the basis for all this. Everything is easily known, but how was this map, which is updated every moment by people around the world, first created? Or whose idea was it exactly?
The art of expressing ideas through drawings has been found in humans from very early on. Even people from primitive tribes like Eskimos and Bedouins have the skill to draw maps, which is evident from some of the maps they have created. The credit for creating the world’s first map goes to the Greek scientist Eratosthenes. In 276 BC, he made an almost accurate measurement of the Earth’s circumference, which made it possible to measure from south to north. He considered the Earth as a sphere and measured it, thus giving him and the map he created the place of the first map. About 400 years before him, the Greek Anaximander had made a map, but since he thought the Earth was cylindrical, that map is not considered valid. Around the time of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus proposed the idea of latitude and longitude to divide the Earth equally. Ptolemy based on this concept created the first map with parallel lines of latitude and longitude. At that time, it was a map of the known world, so the Americas were not included.
However, the history of known maps is older than this. Remnants of maps made about four thousand years ago have been found in Egypt. Who the mapmaker was is not clearly known; therefore, the world’s first cartographers remain anonymous. In those days, Egyptian farmers would mark out the boundaries of their fields and then the king would engrave those boundaries on a map of the entire region. These maps were drawn on clay pieces and baked in a kiln to create a long-lasting map. Many remnants of such maps have been found in excavations in Egypt.
The idea of creating maps for guidance is very old. In ancient Assyria around 1800 BCE, an old clay tablet was found with the northern part of Mesopotamia depicted on it. A similar tablet from around 2500 BCE is kept in the Semitic Museum at Harvard University. In the fifth century BCE, the Greeks knew only the region stretching from the River Indus in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. In the following century, Plato described the Earth as not a flat disc but as spherical, though who originally conceived this idea is disputed. Later in 3500 BCE, Aristotle proved with evidence that the Earth was spherical. He established that the Earth’s orbit was elliptical and determined the latitudes of various places, thus enriching the knowledge about the Earth. The science of mapmaking existed in China long before as well. Around 227 BCE, references to maps were found in Chinese literature. After the discovery of paper (around 105 AD), local maps of different regions of the Chinese empire began to be made.
Ibn Hawqal, an Arab writer in the tenth century, included a map of Sindh in his book “Surat al-Arz”. This map is published in the first volume (pages 32 and 33) of “History of India as Told by Its Own Historians” edited by Elliot and Dawson. A resident of Samarkand, Ulugh Beg, provided latitudes and longitudes of many places known at that time, referred to as “Zij-i Ulugh Beg” (Zij Ulugh Beg), which was created in 1437-38. During Akbar’s reign, Abul Fazl in the “Ain-i-Akbari” provided the latitudes and longitudes of many places within and outside India. Some of Jahangir’s paintings show him holding a globe depicting the world known at that time with the help of latitude and longitude lines.
In Maharashtra and beyond in India during the medieval period, forts in hills, forts in water, and some pilgrimage sites were of special importance. Therefore, plans of such forts or some pilgrimage sites are found. These can be considered as the origin of Indian or regional maps. Among the Indian astrologers of that time, some had an instrument called an astrolabe with one or more disks. These had latitude and longitude lines, and some disks also had latitude and longitude of some cities in India. It seems that the idea of the astrolabe was taken from the West.
The main purpose of a map is to show the distance and direction between two places. Long ago, this distance was shown in units of time, such as ‘Place A’ is two days away from ‘Place B’. However, in the same map, the standard of time for the same distance could vary due to the terrain’s unevenness. Showing direction, however, was not considered as important at that time… there were also doubts about its accuracy. But until the thirteenth century, there was no effort seen to show precise directions. Once the compass was discovered, showing accurate directions became possible. When a new map of the world was created, consideration was given to direction, distance, latitude, and longitude. The first compilation containing maps was created by Abraham Ortelius in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1750. He is recognized as the first modern cartographer, but Gerardus Mercator is credited with creating the first official atlas. He created the first detailed book, and on its first page, he included a picture of the Earth held by Atlas from Greek mythology. From then on, compilations of maps were called ‘atlases’.
From the early maps of primitive tribes to the groundbreaking work of Eratosthenes, Anaximander, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy, each contribution has built upon the last, leading to increasingly accurate representations of our planet. These early advancements laid the foundation for modern cartography and navigation systems, demonstrating that our current ability to explore and navigate the world with precision is deeply rooted in the innovative spirit of ancient scholars and their remarkable achievements in mapping the Earth.