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The period between Eratosthenes and Marinus of Tyre was one of great political importance. Carthage had been destroyed , Julius Caesar had carried on his campaign in Gaul , Egypt had been occupied , Britannia conquered , and the Roman empire had attained its greatest extent and power under the emperor Trajan . But although military operations added to our knowledge of the world, scientific cartography was utterly neglected.

The credit of having returned to the scientific principles innovated by Eratosthenes and Hipparchus is due to Marinus of Tyre which, though no longer occupying the pre-eminent position of former times, was yet an emporium of no inconsiderable importance, having extensive connexions by sea and land. The map of Marinus and the descriptive accounts which accompanied it have perished, but we learn sufficient concerning them from Ptolemy to be able to appreciate their merits and demerits. Marinus was the first who laid down the position of places on a projection according to their latitude and longitude, but the projection used by him was of the rudest. Parallels and meridians were represented by straight lines intersecting each other at right angles, the relative proportions between degrees of longitude and latitude being retained only along the parallel of Rhodes. The distortion of the countries represented would thus increase with the distance, north and south, from this central parallel. The number of places whose position had been determined by astronomical observation was as yet very small, and the map had thus to be compiled mainly from itineraries furnished by travellers or the dead reckoning of seamen. The errors due to an exaggeration of distances were still further increased on account of his assuming a degree to be equal to 500 stadia, as determined by Posidonius, instead of accepting the 700 stadia of Eratosthenes. He was thus led to assume that the distance from the first meridian drawn through the Fortunate islands to Sera , the capital of China, was equal to 225?, which Ptolemy reduced to 177?, but which in reality only amount to 126?. A like overestimate of the distances covering the march of Julius Maternus to Agisymba, which Marinus places 24? south of the equator, a latitude which Ptolemy reduces to 18?, but which is probably no farther south than lat. 12? N. The map of Marinus was accompanied by a list of places arranged according to latitude and longitude. It must have been much in demand, for three editions of it were prepared. Masudi saw a copy of it and declared it to be superior to Ptolemy's map.

Ptolemy's great merit consists in having accepted the views of Hipparchus with respect to a projection suited for a map of the world. Of the two projections proposed by him one is a modified conical projection with curved parallels and straight meridians; in the second projection both parallels and meridians are curved. The correct relations in the length of degrees of latitude and longitude are maintained in the first case along the latitude of Thule and the equator, in the second along the parallel of Agisymba, the equator and the parallels of Meroe, Syene and Thule. Following Hipparchus he divided the equator into 360? drawing his prime meridian through the Fortunate Islands . The 26 special maps are drawn on a rectangular projection. As a map compiler Ptolemy does not take a high rank. In the main he copied Marinus whose work he revised and supplemented in some points, but he failed to realize the peninsular shape of India, erroneously exaggerated the size of Taprobane , and suggested that the Indian Ocean had no connexion with the western ocean, but formed Mare Clausum. Ptolemy knew but of a few latitudes which had been determined by actual observation, while of three longitudes resulting from simultaneous observation of eclipses he unfortunately accepted the least satisfactory, namely, that which placed Arbela 45? to the east of Carthage, while the actual meridian distance only amounts to 34?. An even graver source of error was Ptolemy's acceptance of a degree of 500 instead of 700 stadia. The extent to which the more correct proportion would have affected the delineation of the Mediterranean is illustrated by fig. 4. But in spite of his errors the scientific method pursued by Ptolemy was correct, and though he was neglected by the Romans and during the middle ages, once he had become known, in the 15th century, he became the teacher of the modern world.

There existed, no doubt, special maps of European countries, but the only documents of that description are two maps of Great Britain, the one of the 12th century, the other by Matthew of Paris, the famous historiographer of the monastery of St Albans .

Further materials serviceable to the compilers of maps were supplied by numerous Arabian travellers and geographers, among whom Masudi , Istakhri , Ibn Haukal , Al Biruni , Ibn Batuta and Abul Feda , occupy a foremost place, yet the few maps which have reached us are crude in the extreme. Masudi, who saw the maps in the Horismos or Rasm el Ard, a description of the world by Abu Jafar Mahommed ben Musa of Khiva, the librarian of the caliph el Mamun , declares them to be superior to the maps of Ptolemy or Marinus, but maps of a later date by Istakhri or Ibn al Wardi are certainly of a most rudimentary type. Nor can Idrisi's map of the world, which was engraved for King Roger of Sicily upon a silver plate, or the rectangular map in 70 sheets which accompanies his geography take rank with Ptolemy's work. These maps are based upon information collected during many years at the instance of King Roger. The seven climates adopted by Idrisi are erroneously supposed to be equal in latitudinal extent. The Mediterranean occupies nearly half the inhabited world in longitude, and the east coast of Africa is shown as if it extended due east.

The Arabians are not known to have produced a terrestrial globe, but several of their celestial globes are to be found in our collections. The oldest of these globes was made at Valentia, and is now in the museum of Florence. Another globe is at Velletri; a third by Ibn Hula of Mosul is the property of the Royal Asiatic Society of London; a fourth from the observatory of Maragha, in the Dresden Museum, two globes of uncertain age at Paris and another in London. All these globes are of metal , or they might not have survived so many years.

In China, maps in the olden time were engraved on bronze or stone, but after the 10th century they were printed from wood-blocks. Among the more important productions of more recent times, may be mentioned a map of the empire, said to be based upon actual surveys by Yhang , who also manufactured a celestial globe , and an atlas of the empire on a large scale by Thu-sie-pun of which new enlarged editions with many maps were published in the 16th century and in 1799. None of these maps was graduated, which is all the more surprising as the Chinese astronomers are credited with having made use of the gnomon as early as 1000 B.C. for determining latitudes.

In the case of Japan, the earliest reference to a map is of 646, in which year the emperor ordered surveys of certain provinces to be made.

On these old charts the Mediterranean is delineated with surprising fidelity. The meridian distance between the Straits of Gibraltar and Beirut in Syria amounts upon them to about 3000 Portolano miles, equal in lat. 36? N. to 40.9?, as compared with an actual difference of 41.2?, and a difference of 61? assumed by Ptolemy. There exists, however, a serious error of orientation, due, according to Professor H. Wagner, to the inexperience of the cartographers who first combined the charts of the separate basins of the Mediterranean so as to produce a chart of the whole. This accounts for Gibraltar and Alexandria being shown as lying due east and west of each other, although there is a difference of 5? of latitude between them, a fact known long before Ptolemy.

Associated with Ancona are Grazioso Benincasa and his son Andreas, whose numerous charts were produced between 1461 and 1508, and Count Ortomano Freducci .

The earliest among Majorcan and Catalonian cartographers is Angelino Dulcert whom A. Managhi claims as a Genoese, whose true name according to him was Angelino Dalorto. Other Catalans are Jahuda Cresques, a Jew of Barcelona, the supposed author of the famous Catalan map of the world , Guglielmo Solerio , Mecia de Viladestes Gabriel de Valleseche and Pietro Roselli, a pupil of Beccario of Genoa .

These maps were originally intended for the use of seamen navigating the Mediterranean and the coasts of the Atlantic, but in the course of time they were extended to the mainland and ultimately developed into maps of the whole world as then known. Thus Pizigano's map of 1367 extends as far east as the Gulf of Persia, whilst the Medicean map of 1356 is remarkable on account of a fairly correct delineation of the Caspian, the Shari river in Africa, and the correct direction given to the west coast of India, which had already been pointed out in a letter of the friar Giovanni da Montecorvino of 1252. Most of the expansions of Portolano maps into maps of the world are circular in shape, and resemble the wheel maps of an earlier period. This is the character of the map of Petrus Vesconte of 1320 , of Giovanni Leardo and of a Catalan map of 1450. Jerusalem occupies the centre of these maps, Arab sources of information are largely drawn upon, while Ptolemy is neglected and contemporary travellers are ignored. Far superior to these maps is Fra Mauro's map , for the author has availed himself not only of the information collected by Marco Polo and earlier travellers, but was able, by personal intercourse, to gather additional information from Nicolo de' Conti, who had returned from the east in 1440, and more especially from Abyssinians who lived in Italy at that time. His delineation of Abyssinia, though unduly spread over a wide area, is indeed wonderfully correct.

Of the seven editions of Ptolemy which were published up to the close of the 15th century, all except that of Vicenza contained Ptolemy's 27 maps, while Francesco Berlinghieri's version , and two editions published at Ulm , contained four or five modern maps in addition, those of Ulm being by Nicolaus Germanus.

The geographical ideas which prevailed at the time Columbus started in search of Cathay may be most readily gathered from two contemporary globes, the one known as the Laon globe because it was picked up in 1860 at a curiosity shop in that town, the other produced at Nuremberg in 1492 by Martin Behaim. The Laon globe is of copper gilt, and has a diameter of 170 mm. The information which it furnishes, in spite of a legend intended to lead us to believe that it presents us with the results of Portuguese explorations up to the year 1493, is of more ancient date. The Nuremberg globe is a work of a more ambitious order. It was undertaken at the suggestion of George Holzschuher, a travelled member of the town council. The work was entrusted to Martin Behaim, who had resided for six years in Portugal and the Azores, and was believed to be a thoroughly qualified cosmographer. The globe is of pasteboard covered with whiting and parchment, and has a diameter of 507 mm. The author followed Ptolemy not only in Asia, but also in the Mediterranean. He did not avail himself of the materials available in his day. Not even the coasts of western Africa are laid down correctly, although the author claimed to have taken part in one of the Portuguese expeditions. The ocean separating Europe from Asia is assumed as being only 126? wide, in accordance with Toscanelli's ideas of 1474. Very inadequate use has been made of the travels of Marco Polo, Nicolo de' Conti, and of others in the east. On the other hand, the globe is made gay with flags and other decorations, the work of George Glockendon, a well-known illuminator of the time.

Equally interesting with these Ptolemaic supplements are collections like that of Anton Lafreri, which contains reprints of 142 maps of all parts of the world originally published between 1556 and 1572 , or that of J. F. Camocio, published at Venice in 1576, which contains 88 reprints.

The number of cartographers throughout Europe was considerable, and we confine ourselves to mentioning a few leading men. Among them Germany is then represented by G. Glockedon, the author of an interesting road-map of central Europe , Sebastian M?nster , Elias Camerarius, whose map of the mark of Brandenburg won the praise of Mercator; Wolfgang Latz von Lazius, to whom we are indebted for maps of Austria and Hungary , and Philip Apianus, who made a survey of Bavaria , which was published 1568 on the reduced scale of 1:144,000, and is fairly described as the topographical masterpiece of the 16th century. For maps of Switzerland we are indebted to Konrad T?rst , Johann Stumpf and Aegidius Tschudi . A map of the Netherlands from actual survey was produced by Jacob of Deventer . Leonardo da Vinci, the famous artist, while in the service of Cesare Borgia as military engineer, made surveys of several districts in central Italy. Other Italian cartographers of merit were Giovanni Battiste Agnese of Venice, whose atlases enjoyed a wide popularity; Benedetto Bordone ; Giacomo Gastaldo, cosmographer of the Venetian Republic , and his successor, Paolo Forlani. New maps of Spain and Portugal appeared in 1560, the former being due to Pedro de Medina, the latter to Fernando Alvarez Secco and Hernando Alvaro. Among the French map-makers of this period may be mentioned Oronce Fin?e , who in 1525 published a map of France, and Jean Jolivet . Gregorio Lilly and Humphrey Lhuyd of Denbigh furnished maps of the British Isles, Olaus Magnus of Scandinavia, Anton Wied , Sigismund von Herberstein and Anthony Jenkinson of Muscovy.

The cylindrical and modified conical projections of Marinus and Ptolemy were still widely used, the stereographical projection of Hipparchus, was for the first time employed for terrestrial maps in the 16th century, but new projections were introduced in addition to these. The earliest of these, a trapeziform projection with equidistant parallels, by D. Nicolaus Germanus , naturally led to what is generally known as Flamsteed's projection. Joh. Stabius and his pupil J. Werner devised three heart-shaped projections, one of which was equivalent. Petrus Apianus gave his map an elliptical shape. H. Glareanus was the first to employ an equidistant zenithal polar projection.

No reasonable fault can be found with the marine surveyors of this period, but the scientific cartographers allowed themselves too frequently to be influenced by Ptolemaic traditions. Thus Gastaldo presents us with a map of Italy, which, except as to nomenclature, differs but little from that of Ptolemy, although on the Portolano charts the peninsula had long since assumed its correct shape. Many of the local maps, too, were excellent specimens of cartography, but when we follow any cartographer of the period into regions the successful delineation of which depended upon an intelligent interpretation of itineraries, and of information collected by recent travellers, they are generally found to fail utterly. This is illustrated by the four sketch maps shown in fig. 28.

Columbus, trusting to Toscanelli's misleading chart, looked upon the countries discovered by him as belonging to eastern Asia, a view still shared about 1507 by his brother Bartolomeo. Waldseem?ller was the first to separate America and Asia by an ocean of considerable width, but J. Ruysch returns to the old idea, and even joins Greenland to eastern Asia. Bologninus Zalterius on a map of 1566, and Mercator on his famous chart of 1569, separates the two continents by a narrow strait which they call Streto de Anian, thus anticipating the discovery of Bering Strait by more than a hundred and fifty years. Anian, however, which they place upon the American coast, is no other than Marco Polo's Anica or Anin, our modern Annam. Such an error could never have arisen had the old compilers of maps taken the trouble to plan Marco Polo's routes.

In 1890 Professor A. Penck proposed to prepare a map of the world, including the oceans, on a scale of 1:1,000,000, and his scheme was promised the support of a committee which met in London in 1909, and upon which were represented the leading powers of the world. Maps on that scale of a great part of Africa, Asia and America have been published by British, French, German and United States authorities. A bathymetrical chart of the oceans, by Professor J. Thoulet was published in 1904 at the expense of Prince Albert of Monaco.

Several globes of unusual dimensions were produced in the course of last century. That which Colonel Langlois erected in the Champs Elys?es had a diameter of 39 metres. James Wyld's hollow globe, or "Georama," diam. 18 metres, occupied Leicester Square until swept away as a nuisance. The giant globe proposed by Elis?e Reclus in 1895 has never been erected; he has, however, produced maps on a concave surface, as suggested by J. D. Hauber in 1742.

United Kingdom.

The year 1784 marks the beginning of the ordnance survey, for in that year Major-General Roy measured a base line of 27,404 ft. on Hounslow Heath. Six additional base lines were measured up to 1849, including the Lough Foyle, in 1827-1828, and that on Salisbury Plain, in 1849. The primary triangulation was only completed in 1858, but in the meantime, in 1791, the detail survey had begun. At first it was merely intended to produce a map sufficiently accurate on a scale of 1 in. to a mile . Ireland having been surveyed on a scale of 6 in. to a mile , it was determined in 1840, after the whole of England and Wales, with the exception of Lancashire and Yorkshire, had been completed on one-inch scales, to adopt that scale for the whole of the United Kingdom. Finally, in 1854, a cadastral survey of the whole of the United Kingdom, only excepting uncultivated districts, was resolved upon, on a scale of 1:2500, still larger scales being adopted for town plans. Parish boundaries are laid down with the help of local meresmen appointed by justices at quarter sessions. The horizontal contours are based upon instrumental measurement, and as a whole these ordnance maps were undoubtedly superior in accuracy, with rare exceptions, to similar maps published by foreign governments. Even though the hill hachures on the older one-inch maps are not quite satisfactory, this deficiency is in a large measure compensated for by the presence of absolutely trustworthy contours. Originally the maps were engraved on copper, and the progress of publication was slow; but since the introduction of modern processes, such as electrotyping , photography and zincography , it has been rapid. A plan, the engraving of which formerly took two years, can now be produced in two days.

The one-inch map for the whole of the United Kingdom was completed in 1890. It covers 697 sheets , and is published in three editions, viz. in outline, with contours in black, with hills hachured in brown or black, and printed in five colours. Carefully revised editions of these and of the other maps are brought out at intervals of 15 years at most. Since 1898 the department has also published maps on a smaller scale, viz. a map of England and Wales, on a scale of 2 m. to 1 in., in two editions, both printed in colour, the one with hills stippled in brown, the other coloured on the "layer system" as a strata-relief map; a map of the United Kingdom on a scale of 4 m. to 1 in., also in two editions, the one in outline, showing five classes of roads and parish boundaries, the other in colours, with stippled hills; a map on a scale of 10 m. to 1 in., also in two editions, and finally a map of the United Kingdom on a scale of 1:1,000,000.

France.

Germany.

Austria-Hungary.

Switzerland.

Belgium.

Holland.

The new survey of the Netherlands, based upon General Krayenhoff's primary triangulation was completed in 1855. The results have been published on a scale of 1:25,000 , 1:50,000 , and 1:200,000 .

Denmark.

Scandinavia.

Modern surveys in Sweden date from the organization of a corps of "Landem?tare," known since 1874 as a topographical department of the general staff. The maps issued by this authority include one of southern Sweden, 1:100,000, another of northern Sweden, 1:200,000, and a general map on a scale of 1:1,000,000. In Norway a geographical survey has been in progress since 1783, but the topographical map of the kingdom on a scale of 1:100,000 in 340 sheets, has not yet been completed.

Russia.

Of Russia in Europe only the more densely peopled governments have been surveyed, since 1816, in the manner of other European countries, while for most regions there are only so-called "military surveys." The most readily available map of the whole country is the 10-verst map , known as General J. A. Strelbitzki's, and published 1865-1880. A topographic map embracing the whole of western Russia, with Poland and the country of the Don Cossacks, is designed to be extended over the whole empire. Certain governments--Moscow, Kief, Volhynia, Bessarabia, the Crimea, &c.--have been published on a scale of 1:24,000, while Finland, as far as 61? N., was re-surveyed in 1870-1895, and a map on a scale of 1:42,000 is approaching completion.

Surveys in Asiatic Russia are conducted by the topographical departments organized at Orenburg, Tashkent, Omsk, Irkutsk and Tiflis. To the latter we are indebted for a valuable map of Caucasia, 1:210,000, which since the first publication has undergone careful revision. The Siberian departments have published a number of maps on a scale of 1:420,000. In addition to these the survey for the Trans-Siberian railway has been published on a scale of 1:630,000, as also maps of the Russo-Chinese frontier districts, 1:210,000 and 1:1,168,000. A map of Asiatic Russia, 1:420,000, by Bolshef, in 192 sheets, is in course of publication.

Portugal and Spain.

Italy.

Greece.

Balkan States.

For maps of the Balkan Peninsula we are still largely indebted to the rapid surveys carried on by Austrian and Russian officers. The Austrian map of central Europe embraces the whole of the Balkan Peninsula on a scale of 1:200,000; the Russian surveys are embodied in a map of the eastern part of the Balkan on a scale 1:126,000, and a map of Bulgaria and southern Rumelia, on a scale 1:200,000, both published in 1883. A map of Turkey in Europe, scale 1:210,000, was published by the Turkish general staff , and another map, scale 1:250,000, by the intelligence division of the British war office is in progress since 1906. Bosnia and Herzegovina are now included with the surveys of the Austrian Empire, the kingdom of Servia has been surveyed and the results published on a scale of 1:75,000; in eastern Rumania surveys have been in progress since 1874 and the results have been published on a scale of 1:50,000; a general map of the entire kingdom, scale 1:200,000, was published in 1906-1907; a map of Montenegro , based on surveys by Austrian and Russian officers, was published at Vienna in 1894.

Asia.

In the case of Persia and Afghanistan we are still dependent upon compilations such as a Russian staff map , Colonel Sir T. H. Holdich's map of Persia , or a smaller map , published by the geographical division of the general staff. The settlement of boundaries in northern Afghanistan and in Seistan has necessitated surveys of some interest.

In Siam a regular survey was organized by Mr J. McCarthy , a former official of the Indian survey, which did good work in connexion with the determination of the Franco-Siamese frontier . The surveys are made on the scales of 1:4000, 1:31,680 and 1:63,360.

Japan has a regular survey department originated by Europeans and successfully carried on by natives. The primary triangulation was completed in 1880, a topographical map coloured geologically was published 1889-1897, and in addition to this there are being published an agronomical map on a scale of 1:100,000 and others. The Japanese government has likewise published a map of Korea .

Africa.

Maps of the French Africa Colonies have been published by the service g?ographique de l'Afrique occidental and the service g?ographique des colonies. A map of Senegal is in progress since 1905. The official maps of the other colonies have been compiled by A. Meunier between 1902 and 1909. They include French West Africa, , French Guinea and the Ivory Coast and Dahomey . A map of the French Congo by J. Hansen , was published in 1907. In Madagascar a topographical bureau was established by General J. S. Gallieni in 1896, and the surveys are being published since 1900 on a scale of 1:100,000.

Australia.

In the states of Australia cadastral surveys conducted by surveyors-general have been in progress for many years, as also trigonometrical surveys , and the publication of parish and township or county maps keeps pace with the settlement of the country; but with the exception of Victoria none of these states is in possession of a topographical map equal in accuracy to similar maps published in Europe. In Victoria the so-called geodetic survey was begun in 1858; the maps are published on a scale of 1:126,730. There exists also a general map, on a scale of 1:506,930. Maps on the same scale are available of New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, on a scale of 1:560,000 for Western Australia, on a scale of 1:253,460 for Queensland. There are likewise maps on smaller scales, which undergo frequent revision. The map of British New Guinea is on a scale of 1:330,200 . New Zealand has a good general map on a scale of 1:633,700. A trigonometrical survey was given up and only details of immediate practical use are required. The "Lands Department" of the Fiji Islands has published a map on a scale of 1:380,000 .

North America.

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