The urge to map is a basic, enduring human instinct. Where would we be without maps? The obvious answer is, of course, 'lost', but maps provide answers to many more questions than simply how to get ...

Maps, says Great Maps author and historian Jerry Brotton, are more than a geographic object, a tool to get us from point A to B. From the ancient Greeks to Google Earth, all human cultures have had an ...

BOSTON – When some of the first maps were printed in the late 15th century, they were simple diagrams of three continents and one giant ocean. Over the next several centuries, more continents were ...

The history of maps can go back 5,000 years. During the early years of maps, there were no rules relating to how they were oriented. Maps now normally go north to south. Before 4 BC, maps were usually ...

Author Simon Garfield loves maps. His home in London is full of them — that's where they're stocked, hanging on walls and piled on shelves. So when Garfield was looking for a new topic to write about, ...

Physical maps might feel out of date in our smartphone and GPS age but maps aren’t just for navigation. They are windows into history, culture... Exploring our Planet Through the History of Maps ...

<br>In 150 AD, the Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy wrote a textbook entitled the <i>Geography, </i>which earned him the title ‘The Father of Geography’. Drawing on nearly a thousand years of classical ...

This story is free to read because readers choose to support LAist. If you find value in independent local reporting, make a donation to power our newsroom today. Listen 7:47 Author Simon Garfield ...