The History of Maps

People have been making maps for a very long time. The first maps were simple drawings scratched on rocks or clay. As explorers traveled to new places, maps got better and more detailed. Today, we can see maps of the whole world on our phones and computers.

Ancient Maps

One of the oldest known maps was made in Babylon about 2,600 years ago. It showed the world as a flat circle. Ancient Greeks figured out that the Earth is round. A Greek scientist named Eratosthenes even calculated the size of the Earth. Roman maps showed roads connecting their huge empire.

Maps in the Age of Exploration

When European explorers sailed to new lands, they made maps of what they found. Mapmakers called cartographers drew detailed maps by hand. After satellites were launched into space, people could photograph the whole Earth. Today, GPS and digital maps help us find any place in the world.

Fun Facts

• The oldest known map is carved on a stone tablet from ancient Babylon.
• Old maps sometimes showed sea monsters in the oceans to mark dangerous areas.
• The word 'cartography' means the science of making maps.

Did You Know?

Before modern maps, sailors used the stars to figure out where they were on the ocean.