Map | Definition, History, Types, Examples, & Facts (2024)

map, graphic representation, drawn to scale and usually on a flat surface, of features—for example, geographical, geological, or geopolitical—of an area of the Earth or of any other celestial body. Globes are maps represented on the surface of a sphere. Cartography is the art and science of making maps and charts.

In order to imply the elements of accurate relationships, and some formal method of projecting the spherical subject to a map plane, further qualifications might be applied to the definition. The tedious and somewhat abstract statements resulting from attempts to formulate precise definitions of maps and charts are more likely to confuse than to clarify. The words map, chart, and plat are used somewhat interchangeably. The connotations of use, however, are distinctive: charts for navigation purposes (nautical and aeronautical), plats (in a property-boundary sense) for land-line references and ownership, and maps for general reference.

Cartography is allied with geography in its concern with the broader aspects of the Earth and its life. In early times cartographic efforts were more artistic than scientific and factual. As man explored and recorded his environment, the quality of his maps and charts improved. These lines of Jonathan Swift were inspired by early maps:

So geographers, in Afric maps,
With savage pictures fill their gaps,
And o’er unhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns.

Topographic maps are graphic representations of natural and man-made features of parts of the Earth’s surface plotted to scale. They show the shape of land and record elevations above sea level, lakes, streams and other hydrographic features, and roads and other works of man. In short, they provide a complete inventory of the terrain and important information for all activities involving the use and development of the land. They provide the bases for specialized maps and data for compilation of generalized maps of smaller scale.

Nautical charts are maps of coastal and marine areas, providing information for navigation. They include depth curves or soundings or both; aids to navigation such as buoys, channel markers, and lights; islands, rocks, wrecks, reefs and other hazards; and significant features of the coastal areas, including promontories, church steeples, water towers, and other features helpful in determining positions from offshore.

The terms hydrography and hydrographer date from the mid-16th century; their focus has become restricted to studies of ocean depths and of the directions and intensities of oceanic currents; though at various times they embraced much of the sciences now called hydrology and oceanography. The British East India Company employed hydrographers in the 18th century, and the first hydrographer of the Royal Navy, Alexander Dalrymple (1737–1808), was appointed in 1795. A naval observatory and hydrographic office was established administratively in the United States Navy in 1854. In 1866 a hydrographic office was established by statute, and in 1962 it was renamed the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office.

Interest in the charting of oceanic areas away from seacoasts developed in the second half of the 19th century, concurrently with the perfection of submarine cables. As knowledge of the configuration of the ocean basins increased, the attention of scientists was drawn to this field of study. A feature of marine science since the 1950s has been increasingly detailed bathymetric (water-depth measurement) surveys of selected portions of the seafloor. Together with collection of associated geophysical data and sampling of sediments, these studies assist in interpreting the geologic history of the ocean-covered portion of the Earth’s crust.

Aeronautical charts provide essential data for the pilot and air navigator. They are, in effect, small-scale topographic maps on which current information on aids to navigation have been superimposed. To facilitate rapid recognition and orientation, principal features of the land that would be visible from an aircraft in flight are shown to the exclusion of less important details.

History of cartography

Centuries before the Christian Era, Babylonians drew maps on clay tablets, of which the oldest specimens found so far have been dated about 2300 bce. This is the earliest positive evidence of graphic representations of parts of the Earth; it may be assumed that mapmaking goes back much further and that it began among nonliterate peoples. It is logical to assume that men very early made efforts to communicate with each other regarding their environment by scratching routes, locations, and hazards on the ground and later on bark and skins.

The earliest maps must have been based on personal experience and familiarity with local features. They doubtless showed routes to neighbouring tribes, where water and other necessities might be found, and the locations of enemies and other dangers. Nomadic life stimulated such efforts by recording ways to cross deserts and mountains, the relative locations of summer and winter pastures, and dependable springs, wells, and other information.

Markings on cave walls that are associated with paintings by primitive man have been identified by some archaeologists as attempts to show the game trails of the animals depicted, though there is no general agreement on this. Similarly, networks of lines scratched on certain bone tablets could possibly represent hunting trails, but there is definitely no conclusive evidence that the tablets are indeed maps.

Many nonliterate peoples, however, are skilled in depicting essential features of their localities and travels. During Capt. Charles Wilkes’s exploration of the South Seas in the 1840s, a friendly islander drew a good sketch of the whole Tuamotu Archipelago on the deck of the captain’s bridge. In North America the Pawnee Indians were reputed to have used star charts painted on elk skin to guide them on night marches across the plains. Montezuma is said to have given Cortés a map of the whole Mexican Gulf area painted on cloth, while Pedro de Gamboa reported that the Incas used sketch maps and cut some in stone to show relief features. Many specimens of early Eskimo sketch maps on skin, wood, and bone have been found.