Questions tagged [cartography]
Cartography is the making and studying of maps. Maps are generally a way to visualise spatial information, but can also include other types of information, such as time, flora, fauna, objects and events.
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Who is 'Ebinichibel' mentioned in the Borgia Map?
Wikipedia:BorgiaMap page gives this detail,
The Borgia map includes a legend referring to Ebinichibel, who is described as "the Saracen Ethiopian king with his dog-headed people".
Is this ...
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When did military leaders in the field start to put units or ships as tokens onto a map and to move them around?
I've seen many TV documentaries on historical conflicts where actors representing the leaders would gravely look at a map with tokens for military units, reminiscent of WWII air defense situation ...
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Do maps dating back to 1489/90 show Ascension and St Helena even though these islands were supposedly only discovered in 1501 and 1502 respectively?
The 1504 Vesconte Maggiolo Map appears to be the first map to name and accurately locate the islands of St Helena and Ascension as single isloated islands.
Ascension was shown in a similar location ...
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Do the edges of the CK3 map reflect real discontinuities in the medieval world?
Crusader Kings III was released a week or so ago, mostly to critical acclaim. I, too, have played the new release, and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, the while the new map is significantly better ...
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When did the Portuguese decide to extend their West African exploration to finding a sea passage to India?
In 1421, when the Portuguese began the southwards exploration of the West African coast under Prince Henry the Navigator, their primary aim (there were several) was to find the source of wealthy goods ...
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When the Portuguese began the exploration of the West African Coast, did they believe the Indian Ocean was an enclosed sea?
The Ptolemy map shows the Indian Ocean as an enclosed sea separated from the Atlantic by land extending from Africa to Malaya. Therefore, it suggests it is impossible to reach the Indian Ocean from ...
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How to build historical maps?
Is there an online tool that allows one to create a historical map given a time period and region/country of interest? I have found this question, What are good online sources for historical maps?, ...
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Who are these red flag worshipers from these early maps?
While doing some research into maps over the last month or so, I came across an interesting item which I found recurring on two different sources. I first encountered this scene on a copy of the ...
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What sort of maps did the ancient Greeks make and distribute?
Context: I am going to be starting a D&D campaign in a world based on ancient Greece, rather than your classic Western European medieval fantasy land. This will probably not be the only question ...
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Is this costume plate from Theatrum Orbis Terrarum correctly colored?
I have been spending some time lately going through some old atlases online, and noticed some discrepancies between some images coloration. We have noted on another question that the individual ...
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Did imperialist propaganda inflate map size?
I'm fairly certain I've seen this in the past and I highly doubt I'm making this up - I'm not sure whether it was of the British Empire or Japan's or maybe even some other nation - but I'm fairly ...
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How were maps drawn and printed in the late 19th-early 20th centuries?
Old books published in the late 19th to early 20th centuries AD (e.g. the Loeb Classical Library) may contain one or more topographical maps of world regions.
How were these maps drawn and printed ...
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Who was the first Renaissance cartographer to include rich content in their maps that went beyond spatial points, borders, and location names?
In other words, which Renaissance cartographer was the first to really enrich their maps with imagery or icons that indicated other attributes about the locations they were mapping, or the people who ...
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What was an upper and a lower region?
What made a region an upper, or superior region, or a lower, or inferior region?
Examples:
Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower Austria
Moesia Superior and Inferior
Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) ...
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When would the Japanese have been able to recognize their archipelago?
After watching Bill Wurtz's History of Japan video, it got me wondering.
At 4:38, it brings up the Dutch bringing geography to Japan (obviously, this is a humorous video, so I'm sure this is ...
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What was the first map of Antarctica having a shape based on real evidence?
Antarctica was the last continent to be discovered, and the first confirmed landfall was on January 24, 1895. However, most discussions of "early" world maps seem to peter out well before that, such ...
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What was the most accurate map of the world before artificial satellites?
How accurate were the maps before the invention of artificial satellites? What was the most accurate map of the Earth before satellites?
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What are the historical reasons for the conventional map orientation?
North is traditionally shown upwards in maps, although there isn't any physical reason for it - compass needles point parallel to magnetic field lines. Showing south as up would be just as legitimate. ...
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What are good online sources for historical maps?
I am looking for good online sources for historical maps, specifically the late medieval period (but other periods would be interesting as well). While there are many historical maps out there, few ...
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Why is Baja California often shown as an island on maps between 1500 and 1700?
Several maps done in the 16th & 17th Centuries show a huge island off the western coast of America. At its lower end, it looks a lot like baja california, but it is clearly an island, as opposed ...
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