History of the World Map by Map

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The Hereford Mappa Mundi, created around 1300 in England, is a fascinating peek into the medieval imagination. Drawn on a huge piece of animal hide, it is the largest and most famous surviving world map from the middle ages. The top depicts the Day of Judgment, one of many biblical scenes inked onto map, while images of wild beasts and fantastical monsters lurk on the edges of the world, representing the dangers of the unknown. Maps don't just show us where to go, but also where we've been. If you're interested in finding out more about the biggest events in world history, then this book all about history of the world is perfect for you!

Of course you could take a semester to dive deep into the transitions from the stone age to the iron age to the industrial revolution to the space age, but the depth that is offered here on so many of these distinctive historic periods seems just about right for someone interested in brushing up or clarifying their knowledge. This stunning visual reference book starts with the evolution and migration of our oldest ancestors out of Africa. You can then look up maps about the Greece and Persian War, the Mongol Conquests, Medieval Europe's trade routes, and the rise of the Ottomans. There are maps about the colonization of North America, the scientific revolution, Napoleon's advances, and Britain's control of India. There's more in later centuries, like the Age of Imperialism, the American Civil War, industrialized Europe, and the transformation of Japan. The first photograph taken from the air was shot from a 260-foot-high hot air balloon in 1858. It was an inauspicious start—and that photo of a small French village was lost—but aviation would revolutionize mapmaking. From above, a photograph could gather a huge amount of data at a time, a major improvement on labor-intensive ground surveys. Visit Machu Picchu via Google Earth and hike the Inca Trail with Street View. Courtesy Google Street View

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This was becoming the cardinal rule of maps: “No map entirely tells the truth,” notes Mark Monmonier, author of How to Lie With Maps. “There’s always some distortion, some point of view.” Equates socialism with the USSR. p. 234. (In fact, socialism is public schools, and all other government-provided public services. The USSR was autocracy.) This history book reaching across millennia gives you a broad view of the pivotal events in our past. With 140 maps, complimented with pictures, info boxes, and timelines, there's so much to enjoy and learn about. You will gain a strong understanding of some of the forces and movements across continents that have shaped our world. Says slavery "contributed" to the Industrial Revolution. Actually, the Industrial Revolution was /founded/ on slavery: chattel slavery and wage-slavery. p. 212. Tells us slaves were emancipated after the U.S. Civil War--but doesn't say how little changed, after the end of Reconstruction, under the sharecropping system, Jim Crow, and a Southerner-dominated Supreme Court. p. 257. This is only the Political History, so consists ONLY of short paragraphs listing dates and key military/political men. There is nothing here to integrate any of the conflicts or conquests into a coherent story, the way Jared Diamond, Yuval Harari, or Mann do. So nothing here remains memorable, except for the visual nature of the maps.

Maps are overlaid with panels of text and information-rich graphics, for a deeper understanding of each episode The Hereford Map represents the most common type of mappa mundi, the “T-O” map, so called because a “T” shape splits the world into three continents (Asia, Europe, and Africa) surrounded by an “O”-shaped ocean.Milner worries, though, that GPS is weakening something fundamental in ourselves, corroding not just our orientation skills, but how well we remember the details of the world around us. A 2008 study in Japan found that people who used a GPS to navigate a city developed a shakier grasp of the terrain than those who consulted a paper map or those who learned the route via direct experience. Similarly, a 2008 Cornell study found that “GPS eliminates much of the need to pay attention.” Some map historians agree that a subtle change is at hand. Short tells me that he likes the convenience of GPS-brokered directions—“but what I do lose is the sense of how things hang together.” Maps don't just show us where to go, but also where we've been. A stunning overview of all human history, side by side with 140 custom maps. Farming presented as progress--no admission that it was resorted to only when the abundant game was gone. Most certainly—because it already has. Three thousand years ago, our ancestors began a long experiment in figuring out how they fit into the world, by inventing a bold new tool: the map.

Ptolemy gathered documents detailing the locations of towns, and he augmented that information with the tales of travelers. By the time he was done, he had devised a system of lines of latitude and longitude, and plotted some 10,000 locations—from Britain to Europe, Asia and North Africa. Ptolemy even invented ways to flatten the planet (like most Greeks and Romans, he knew the Earth was round) onto a two-dimensional map. What did he call his new technique? “Geography.” B R O N Z E A G E C O L L A P S E 43 Invaders from the sea A relief from the temple of Pharaoh Rameses III shows captive warriors of the Peleset, one of the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt. The Peleset later settled the Levant, where they came to be known as the Philistines. This stunning visual reference book starts with the evolution and migration of our oldest ancestors out of Africa. You can then look up maps about the Greece and Persian War, the Mongol Conquests, Medieval Europe's trade routes, and the rise of the Ottomans. There are maps about the colonisation of North America, the scientific revolution, Napoleon's advances, and Britain's control of India. There's more in later centuries, such as the Age of Imperialism, the American Civil War, industrialised Europe and the transformation of Japan.

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A modern reproduction of the Hereford Mappa Mundi. Europe is in the lower left quadrant. Universal History Archive // Getty Images Learn how something like the printing press can define a time, or how the Allies in Europe could defeat the Nazis.

Explore the history of the world in unprecedented detail with this ultimate guide to history throughout the ages. These days, our maps seem alive: They speak, in robotic voices, telling us precisely where to go—guided by the satellites and mapping of companies like Waze, Google, Bing and Mapquest. “There’s something fun about turn-by-turn directions,” says Greg Milner, author of Pinpoint: How GPS Is Changing Technology, Culture and Our Minds. “It’s very seductive.” There’s no need even to orient yourself to north: The robot voice tells you to turn right, turn left, with you always at the center.

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Essentially, the book comprises a detailed but brief history of the world from pre-historic to modern times that is illustrated by excellent maps that are highlighted by photographs of carefully chosen artifacts or scenes. This history book reaching across millennia gives you a broad view of the pivotal events in our past. With 140 maps, complimented with pictures, info boxes and timelines, there's so much to enjoy and learn about. You will gain a strong understanding of some of the forces and movements across continents that have shaped our world.