The Story of Maps

by Lloyd A. Brown

"An important and scholarly work; bringing together much information available heretofore only in scattered sources … easily readable." — Gerald I. Alexander, F.R.G.S. Cartographer, Map Division, New York Public Library
Early map making was characterized by secrecy. Maps were precious documents, drawn by astrologers and travelers, worn out through use or purposely destroyed. Just as men first mapped the earth indirectly, via the sun and stars, so must the history of maps be approached circuitously, through chronicles, astronomy, Strabo and Ptolemy, seamanship, commerce, politics. From the first determination of latitude 2000 years ago through the dramatic unraveling of longitude 1700 years later, the story of maps plots the course of civilization. This book charts the course with a breadth and depth still unsurpassed in a scholarly survey.
Lloyd A. Brown's cartographic erudition came through his years as librarian of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, and as curator of maps at the Clements Library, University of Michigan, where he devised a system for classifying and cataloging some 25,000 old maps. He researched The Story of Maps over four years, seeking out as many pertinent sources as possible for a definitive history and summation of map lore.
The Story of Maps follows the peaks and declines of western societies, with marine and topographic knowledge flourishing secretly with the sea powers of Minoan Crete and the Phoenicians, surfacing again with Hipparchus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, and Ptolemy, then waning until the Crusades brought travel and trade back to prominence. The Genoese, Venetians, Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, and English all had their years of hegemony, great navigators and charts, aided by the mapping ideas of Mercator and Edward Wright. The most brilliant minds of the era, including Galileo and Newton, attempted to solve the problem of longitude at sea; the solution came from a Yorkshire clockmaker named John Harrison, who won a 20,000 pound prize for his pains.
The Story of Maps celebrates cartography from Strabo to World War II. Eighty-six remarkable illustrations, including early maps, prints and portraits, many unique and seen only in museums, supplement the texts. The exhaustive bibliography matches the text in span and usefulness for those who will undoubtedly be stimulated by this book to read more regarding maps.

Genres: History, Maps, Nonfiction, Geography, Science, Cartography, Reference

464 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1980

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slog to get through, there were some cutting one liners about specific people or situations, but generally it was dry and hard to read.
20 pages of verbal description of different tools for measurement. Exhausting.
Extremely Eurocentric and ethnocentric. One mention of maps made by not Europeans after Ptolemy. At this point, it’s very outdated (written shortly after WWII). Would not recommend.

[Carlos Vazquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los mapas que ahora tenemos tan abundantemente, no surgieron de la mañana a la noche en la historia de la humanidad. Desde las primeras observaciones de la costas por los primeros navegantes, al hombre le ha costado mucho saber orientarse y basta con reguntar hoy por una calle para constatar que así sigue siendo. La lectura de mapas miltares y topográficos no cualquiera la entiende tan fácilmente y lleva mucho tiempo en el adiestramiento militar. Napoleon no se separaba de sus mapas.
Aparte de esto, las ideas de Mercator de idear una proyección que no era plana y donde se idearon muchos trucos para hacer comprensible lo que dibujado en perspectiva realista no se podía comprender, no fueron inventos fáciles y los buenos mapas han sido algo muy codiciado. Este es un buen libro que explica algo que damos hoy por sentado pero que costó mucho, y es de estos asuntos cuya falta de reconocimiento dice muy poco del nivel educativo de una sociedad que no sabe apreciar lo que cosó el avance de la humanidad a través de los siglos.
Por eso, libros como este son escasos y se agradecen. Si vd sabe apreciar qué vale en esta vida y qué es morralla, claro.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent comprehensive history of cartography. The coverage of the knowledge of the ancients was most interesting. Amazing what was known, was lost and was rediscovered. The author left out some background on surveying so that the mapping of the countries would make more sense. He also was skimpy on how longitude can be determined from observing the satellites of Jupiter (before the chronometer). This book was written in the 1940's so his discussion of the contribution of Arab scholars during Western Europe's Dark Ages was non-existent.

[CM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very thorough account of maps through the years. Had the tendency to get dull and dense at points.

[Elizabeth Metzger]

The politics of maps and those who have made them. Going back one bajillion years.