Beginnings 6000 BCE-1300 CE -- Expanding horizons 1300-1500 -- Exploration and encounters 1500-1650 -- Precision and detail 1650-1800 -- Technique and technology 1800-1900 -- Modern mapping 1900-present -- Directory of mapmakers

This glorious guided tour of cartographic history features more than 300 of the most famous and important maps of all time. Immerse yourself in ancient Chinese star charts, decipher medieval Mappae Mundi, and marvel at intricate surveys of the ocean floor and the lunar surface. Discover how Polynesian navigators used sticks to chart their way across the Pacific, what a rhumb line is, and where dragons were once said to lurk. Organised chronologically, the book includes the most celebrated examples of maps spanning the last 3,000 years, explaining everything from scales and compasses to meteorological symbols, and exploring techniques from engraving and printing to cartographic projection. Entries also place the maps in their wider cultural and historical context, providing a complete overview of the subject