Ancient maps differ from modern cartographic images. The origin of maps, ancient maps of Rus'. Tartaria on the Don, Gothia in Sweden

For our ancient ancestors, the world was often limited to the land that surrounded and fed them. But even the earliest human civilizations still tried to measure the scale of this world and made the first attempts to draw maps.

The first such map is believed to have been created in Babylon over 2,500 years ago, and it shows the world beyond the Babylonian kingdom as poisonous waters and dangerous islands where (they believed) people could not survive.

Over time, maps gradually became larger in scale as people's knowledge of what lay beyond the Mediterranean grew. With the beginning of the era of wanderings and exploration in the 15th century, the concept of seeing the world changed, the East began to appear on maps, and a huge unexplored ocean appeared in place of America. And with the return of Columbus, maps of the world began to take on a form that was already understandable to us, modern people.

1. The oldest known map of the world is from Babylon (6th century BC). At the center of the world is the Kingdom of Babylon itself. There is a “bitter river” around him. The seven points across the river are islands that cannot be reached.

2. World map of Hecataeus of Miletus (5-6 century BC). Hecataeus divides the world into three parts: Europe, Asia and Libya, located around the Mediterranean Sea. His world is a round disk surrounded by ocean.

3. World map of Posidonius (2nd century BC). This map expands on the early Greek vision of the world, including the conquests of Alexander the Great.

4. World map of Pomponia Mela (43 AD)

5. Ptolemy's world map (150 AD). He was the first to add latitude and longitude lines to the world map.

6. Peitinger Tablet, a 4th-century Roman map showing the road network of the Roman Empire. The full map is very long, showing lands from Iberia to India. In the center of the world, of course, is Rome.

7. Map of the world by Kozma Indicoplov (6th century AD). The world is depicted as a flat rectangle.

8. A later Christian map in the form of a multi-colored clover leaf, compiled by Henry Banting (Germany, 1581). In fact, it does not describe the world, or rather, according to this map, the world is a continuation of the Christian Trinity, and Jerusalem is its center.

9. World map of Mahmud al-Kashgari (11th century). The world is centered around the ancient city of Balasagun, now the territory of Kyrgyzstan. This also includes places (countries) that are predicted to appear at the end of the world, such as Gog and Magog.

10. Map “Book of Roger” by Al-Idrisi, compiled in 1154. It was created based on information received from Arab traders who traveled around the world. At that time it was the most accurate and extensive map of the world. Europe and Asia are already clearly visible, but so far only the northern part of Africa is visible.

11. Hereford world map of the 14th century by one Richard of Haldingham. Jerusalem in the center, East at the top. The circle in the southern part of the map is the Garden of Eden.

12. Chinese map “Da Ming Hunyi Tu” from the late 14th century. The world through the eyes of the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty. China, of course, dominates, and all of Europe is squeezed into a small space in the west.

13. Genoese map, compiled in 1457 based on descriptions by Niccolò da Conti. This is how Europeans see the world and Asia after the opening of the first trade routes to Mongolia and China.

14. Projection of the globe Erdapfel (“Earth Apple”) by Martin Beheim (Germany, 1492). Erdapfel is the oldest known globe, showing the world as a sphere, but without America - instead there is still a huge ocean.

15. World map of Johann Ruysch, compiled in 1507. One of the first images of the New World.

16. Map by Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann from 1507. This was the first map to refer to the New World as "America." America looks like a thin strip of the east coast.

17. World map of Gerard van Schagen 1689. By this time, most of the world has already been mapped, and only small parts of America remain empty.

18. Samuel Dunn's 1794 world map. By charting the discoveries of Captain James Cook, Dunn became the first cartographer to depict our world as accurately as possible.

The history of the country is reflected in the maps that people began to make quite a long time ago. They depicted not only their state, but also their neighbors. The cards were provided with inscriptions. By reading them, we learn the names of neighboring and distant countries. State borders and much more are clearly visible.

What is shown on ancient Russian maps? Why are they not cited in Russian history textbooks? And if they do, then, as a rule, these are maps of the 18th–19th centuries. Of course, there are maps in textbooks, and there are many of them, but these are not ancient maps, but made by modern artists from the words of historians.

Let's look authentic ancient Russians cards. We are not the first among those who have done this. V. N. Tatishchev searched for them before us in the 18th century. This is what he writes about the results of his searches.

“I don’t find anywhere about the beginning of geographical art or an accurate description in Rus', except that Nestor described the peoples that existed before and at that time. From it, the chroniclers remember the reigns, but everything that belongs to geography is very dark and insufficient. Then Simon, Bishop of Suzdal, says: Great Prince Constantine the Wise described all the peoples and borders, but it has not reached us. According to him, Tsar John II (Ivan IV. - A.G.), about which in 1552 it is said that he ordered the lands to be measured and a drawing of the state to be made. However, this drawing is nowhere to be seen, except that in the Kazan archives for one Kazan possession, as I remember, it was made on 16 sheets without a scale, but from place to place miles are signed in number (as we see, our ancestors understood the importance of maps, once we marked the miles. - A.G.). Only the book, called the Great Drawing, remains, and, I think, Macarius understands this drawing. It describes rivers, lakes, mountains and noble villages at a distance, which began, it seems, under John I the Great, and under his grandson Tsar John II and after under Tsar Alexy it was completed, but under the latter much of it was damaged from disrepair and the addition could not correct everything, since there is no description of the Moscow River and other nobles, and there are many obvious errors and prophets in it. However, it is very necessary and useful for Russian geography, for this reason I explained it, expanded it and attached an alphabetical list.

Under Tsar Boris, a land map was created with great skill, and although it is not entirely correct, it shows a lot about the Eastern Tatars, which has not been found in any foreign ones so far, especially Bukharia and the Aral Sea, which is called the Blue Sea, quite decently entered. Under him and under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, I found three land maps made of different Siberia, also by Tsar Alexy Mikhailovich, a general Russian one and several particular ones, all on one sheet of plain paper, and from the general one it is clear that someone understood the Latin language, for he put down many Latin words and divided by degrees. I found these land maps in Siberia with a nobleman, bound in a book, like a wondrous weight, in 1739 I wanted to present it to the Imperial Majesty. Then, under Tsar Alexy in 1664, the above-announced book Big Drawing was added, notably, to the creation of a land map (it seems that the drawing is not a map yet, but only a verbal description. - A.G.), which was created, we do not see. Witsen, the mayor of Amsterdam, announced that it was carved and printed on wood, only after a trial was enough for me, no one came to see it printed, and although they say that it is in the Senate archives, only no one could find it and show it to me.” (Tatishchev, T. 1, p. 348).

Thus, in Russia they “didn’t like” geography, and even if maps were made, they somehow disappeared into oblivion on their own. And Peter the Great found himself without maps of his own state. After all, the map is a “wonderful thing” and is found only in Siberia.

Maybe things were just as bad with ancient maps in Europe? Let’s make a reservation that we are only interested in those ancient Western European maps that depict Russia. Let us quote from Klyuchevsky’s book, which talks about the interest of foreigners in Russia. “Although it was known back at the beginning of the 18th century that “these people are afraid to go to Russia, thinking that going there means going to the ‘end of the world,’ that this country borders on the ‘Indies.' Meanwhile, at the same time that such ideas about Russia dominated in Western Europe, no European country was described in detail so many times by travelers from Western Europe as distant Muscovy" (Klyuchevsky, 1991, p. 5)

Indeed, there are many ancient descriptions and many maps about Russia and Muscovy. In Europe, books with maps of Russia and Tartaria are published with amazing consistency.

Let's list them (you can view them on the Internet at http:// users . univer . omsk . su /~ guts / History /).

1. Mauro, Fra. Manuscript planisphere of 1460.

Russia, in particular, is depicted (south - above, north - below; Tartary in the Don region, Saray, Horde on the Volga, Gothia at the mouth of the Dnieper):

Russia, Tartaria in Europe.

Another map from this atlas. It shows Russian Asia in 1460! Its name is Sarmatia (to the east of it - Tanguts). Siberia is also on the map.

2. Giacamo Gastaldi. A map of Russia. Vienna, in a Latin edition of 1549.

3. Anthony Jenkenson. 1562. Russiae, Moscoviae et Tartaria Descriptio.

Russia, Tartary, including the Don region, cassac (Cossacks?) on the Irtysh (or Ob), flowing into Lake China (?)).

The information supplied on the map is based on the travels of Anthony Jenkinson who in 1557 and 1561 sought to open trade to Persia by way of northern Russia for England"s Muscovy Company.Originally published in Ortelius"s Atlas, this map was also included in Gerard de Jode's Speculum Orbis Terrarum.

4. Gerard Mercator. 1595. Ukraine, Russia, Tartaria.

On the map, Tartary is located on the lands of the Cossacks.

5. Isaac Massa. 1620. Russiae vulgo Moscovia, Pars Australis, Paris.

Above the Don River there is an area called Pole. On the map in point 3, Tartary was here. Pole is also on the map of 1678, and the Tatars live a little higher.

From the Atlas of Johannes and Cornelius Blaeu. The figures at the bottom are dressed in furs, reflecting the contemporary interest in Russia as a fur-producing region.

6. Mercator. Russia. 1621. Avery early map of European Russia.

Tartaria on the Don, Gothia in Sweden.

7. Olearius, Adam 1669. A new map of Muscovy.

Perikop Tatars live on the lands of the Don Cossacks.

The voyages and travels of the ambassadors sent by Frederic Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia. London, For John Starkey and Thomas Basset, 1669.

Olearius was secretary to the embassy sent out by the duke of Holstein in 1633 to explore commercial opportunities in Persia and Russia. This map depicts much of the area traversed by the embassy, ​​showing western Russia from the Murmansk to the Black and Caspian Seas, the river systems being dominant features.

8. Coronelli, Vincenzo. 1690.

Siberia between the Volga and the Urals, Great Tartaria, Regno di Kasgak Chaizag (?)).

Atlante Veneto, nel quale si contiene la descrittione geografica, storica, sacra, profana, e politica. Venice, Domenico Padoueani, 1690. This map includes that part of Russia north of the Caspian Sea and somewhat to the east.

9. Zatta, Antoneo. 1779–85. Chinese Tartary.

Zatta is not well known as a map publisher although his four-volume atlas contains 214 maps. They are distinguished more for their clarity and artistic quality than for originality. Two of the maps depict Asiatic Russia including this one of Independent Tartary which was nominally a part of the Russian empire

Maps of the Earth were compiled 30,000,000 years ago
Why did ancient cartographers depict the continents as they were located millions of years ago?

On ancient maps, Antarctica is shown without ice, and the remaining continents are in completely different positions than today. These are the famous 16th century maps of Piri Reis, Orontius Phineus, Hadji Ahmed and some others. Scientists have tried to determine when on our planet there was such a position of the continents, according to geology? The results turned out to be so amazing that the scientific world is still silent about them: ancient maps depict planet Earth 24-34 million years ago...

Map of Orontius (Orontius Finn). Paris, 1534-1536

How is this possible? How did medieval cartographers know the outlines of continents that existed long before the appearance of the first man (if you believe the official history)? Independent researcher, geologist, editor-in-chief of the portal "Before the Flood" Alexander Koltypin analyzes information related to maps of the ancient Earth and compares it with data from geological and geographical reconstructions.

Alexander Koltypin:— Proof, probably, of everything that modern historical and archaeological science is probably not on the right path, we can also cite such a class of information as maps of ancient navigators, which include the map known, probably to many, of Piri Reis, the map of Orontius Phineus, the map of Hadji Ahmed, well, and a whole series of maps that show the world completely different from what it is now. For example, on the Ica stones, which were found in Peru by Cabrera, the most ancient maps are also depicted; the continents were located differently than they are now. For example, on the Piri Reis map, South America is connected to Antarctica. On the map of Orontius Phineus or Hadji Ahmed, Antarctica is shown as a single continent, free of ice. And if you take Philippe Boishet, for example, the map, it shows Antarctica as two islands. If on Orontia Phinea there the smallest central part was apparently covered in ice, because it is without details, and the rivers are only drawn along the edges, then there are simply two islands, as it is now, based on geophysical research that began to be carried out with sixties, only the twentieth century only became known. How did the ancients know this, in the 15th, 16th, 14th centuries?

How was this known? Because if you follow the theory that historians are now developing, the classical theory, then they could not have known any of this, and all this cannot be attributed to a random coincidence. Trying to analyze the map of Antarctica by Orontius Pheneus, well, they date it, as a rule, to approximately the twentieth millennium BC. This is already unscientific research, this is research that goes beyond the category of official science. Naturally, as a geologist, I also could not help but pay attention to these maps. And, first of all, I began to ask questions such as why, for example, Antarctica is connected to South America? When did their separation occur? When was Antarctica completely free of ice and consisting of two islands? When did it become covered with ice in the central part? When did it have rivers? I found this answer in paleogeological, or more correctly, paleogeographical reconstructions that exist, and in paleoclimatic reconstructions, of which there are quite a lot, and also which show the location of the continent.

So, the separation of South America and Antarctica occurred, according to some sources, 24 million years ago, according to others, 34 million years ago. Here, Antarctica existed in the form of two islands more than 30 million years ago. Ice-free Antarctica existed somewhere around 25, I’m not saying the exact date, but approximately I’m saying about 25 million years ago. After 16 million years ago, almost continuous glaciation of Antarctica began, and its contours were already very close, it was an ice continent, and 5 million years ago it was completely covered with ice and was no longer different from the modern one. That's what the geological data says. This means that if we consider that suddenly some ancient cartographers were not struck by inspiration, then these were some drawings from earlier maps that somehow survived from the time 30 million years ago, 25 million years ago, when they existed highly developed civilizations that compiled these maps. We read the same Mahabharata, we read the Rigveda, they talk about a certain race of space aliens led by Vaishvanara, and in the book of Enoch these are guardians who descended to Earth and began to map the Earth.

Moreover, this is quite figuratively spelled out, that is, not only the Earth, but also the near-Earth spaces, that is, perhaps these maps really existed from that time, and they somehow after the catastrophes, after the floods that preserved the Earth, in the same underground structures could have survived and somehow fallen into the hands of these medieval cartographers, who, most likely, did not use them, but simply redrew them and, based on these maps, made their geographical discoveries. But the maps were not entirely accurate, because the contours of the earth changed during this time; although they did not change significantly over 20 million years, they still changed, so mistakes occurred, and sometimes completely unexpected discoveries. At least, I think that this is a great example when work at the intersection of geology and folklore makes it possible to decipher these maps in this way, among other things.

In my youth, I really loved the board game “Star of Africa”; the playing field in it was a map of the African continent, made in an ancient style: some monsters were depicted in the ocean, cities were also indicated by ancient buildings. Subsequently, I learned that such images were actually applied to ancient maps. For example, a place where ships often disappeared was marked with a drawing of an unknown animal (usually a leviathan), which was supposed to warn the sailors of old.

Ancient maps

The first map of the area that has reached us dates back to the 7th millennium BC. e. It depicts a Neolithic village located in what is now Turkey. Naturally, it is very primitive and schematic in nature. The heyday of cartography dates back to the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries, when the map ceased to be a pleasant help, but became a necessity. Previously, maps were drawn by just one person, based on his own observations, often providing them with various drawings and notes that were not relevant to the question. Therefore, their accuracy was questionable. The leaders in the field of mapping at that time were eastern sailors.

There is still controversy about the Turkish map of Piri Reis with Antarctica depicted on it 300 years before its official discovery.

Modern cartography

Nowadays, many people work on mapping, from astronauts to professional artists. Now no one draws cards alone by hand, and everyone is busy with their own business:

The main difference between modern maps and ancient ones is their practical significance, i.e. they do not need to stand out with any special design and beauty, the main thing about them is accuracy and ease of use.

Maps are a product that countless people have worked on over six thousand years. Cartography appeared before writing, and the methods of drawing the earth and sea surfaces changed along with the entire human civilization: from the first rock paintings to digital online and offline maps containing ethnographic, economic, and social information about the inhabitants.

From the first day, when maps began to be used for orientation in the world, shortcomings were identified in them: rivers changed their courses, fires destroyed forests, human settlements migrated from place to place, making it difficult to fix objects on the map. So the history of cards is also the ancient history of fixing bugs in attempts to create the perfect product.

Today we will decide whether, centuries later, we have managed to get closer to the canonical scheme of reflecting the world.

The oldest maps of the world

In the picture above you see an exact copy of the original piece of mammoth tusk found in the vicinity of the city of Pavlov (Czech Republic). After many years of research, the design on the tusk was recognized as the oldest map known to date. Its age is estimated at 25–27 thousand years. The tusk depicts river bends, ridges, ravines of loose loess slopes, rocky peaks and a hunter's house.

Such a map, even for its creators, could not last long. It was necessary to change the drawing each time, make a new map, or find a fundamentally different way of orientation on the ground.

On the left is a bronze Heavenly disk from Nebra. On the right is Murdorff's gold disk (possibly a fake). Both discs contain maps of the locations of celestial bodies

How to capture an image of a terrain if the territory is undergoing constant transformation?

Perhaps it is worth navigating by unchanging objects - stars. The polar star, part of the constellation Ursa Minor, always points north, deviating during the night by only one and a half degrees (due to precession, the role of the polar star was assigned to different stars at different times). Knowing where the North Star is located, it is easy to determine the cardinal directions: when you look directly at the star, there will be east on the right side, west on the left, and south behind your back.

The first constellations were identified about 16 thousand years ago and appeared in various drawings of Paleolithic art. It should be borne in mind that the cartographic feature of the night sky drawings was used as a side effect. The celestial disk from Nebra (≈ 3000 BC), which depicts the Sun, Moon and 32 stars, was supposedly used to measure the angle between the points of sunrise and sunset during the solstices.

Selecting a Perspective

More than 6,000 years ago, the first top-down maps appeared. The fresco in the ancient settlement of Çatalhöyük is regarded as a detailed plan of the village. The streets in the village were not marked - probably, the isolation of each house was shown with light lines.

Modern reconstruction of the map at Çatalhöyük. A presumably real volcano is indicated in orange. White rectangles - houses covered with flat roofs

Copy of the "Carta Marina" map, made in 1949

The 1539 Carta Marina is remarkable because, perhaps for the first time, images of eerie sea creatures began to have practical utility - they correspond to currents, storm fronts, dangerous underwater rocks and shoals.

A map of Venice from 1565 is made in a style that is still used in tourist guides today.

Conformal Mercator projection, thanks to which it is possible to construct nautical charts on which the ship's course is depicted as a straight line

In 1569, cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in an effort to make the world "look right" on maps, developed a new projection using mathematical formulas. With the Mercator projection, maps take on the form we are familiar with.

“Map of the World placed in the head of a Fool”, 1590. The map depicts the world “dressed” in the traditional entourage of a court jester: a two-horned cap with bells and a jester’s staff

Map by Claes Janson Vischer "Leo Belgicus", 1611. Leo Belgicus is the Latin name for the Dutch lion. Since 1583, the Netherlands has often been depicted as a lion. The map shows the period of truce between Spain and the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands.

In 1675, John Ogilby depicted roads on the map as narrow strips, excluding the rest of the surrounding area, leaving only the objects necessary for orientation. This ancient map became the prototype of maps in modern car navigators.

The fashion for axonometric projection in maps was established by the French in a detailed plan of Paris drawn up in 1734–1736. The Louvre Palace is visible in the image above. To appreciate the scale of the work, open the entire city plan. Almost three hundred years later, the Chinese did something similar for the Baidu search engine.

Have you heard of a “travel map”? On such a map, you need to paint over / erase a piece of the territory you visited, revealing the name and full geographical information. The first such map was created in 1761 by John Spilsbury, who invented the “cut map.” Each individual map piece contained a bit of geographic information. By collecting the necessary sites, it was possible to study the entire world known at that time.

By the 19th century, map creators began to try to visually display economic, social, and political information. However, until the mass adoption of digital maps in the 21st century, additional information on maps quickly became outdated.

Ultra-modern

In the 20th century, maps became incredibly detailed, thanks first to aerial photography and then to space imaging. However, satellite images, while quickly gaining popularity, also quickly turned into just a tool for creating diagrams. On a city scale they are practically useless. Above forest areas - completely useless. Then projects came to the rescue, in which people began to independently mark on maps inaccessible objects for photography.

Nowadays, maps appear that reflect the interests of a variety of people. Thus, Greek researchers have developed a system that converts images of traditional paper maps into three-dimensional city plans. Using virtual reality gloves, a blind person can literally touch the map and read data from it (or turn on a voice engine that reads street names).

Airbnb is experimenting with creating maps whose boundaries are drawn according to cultural and contextual principles. On the map above, traditional “tourist” accommodations are highlighted in green, and accommodation from the Airbnb database is highlighted in red. Any template map recommends housing in the “green” zone, but more complete impressions of real life in the city can be gleaned from the “red” territory.

Once the blind spots finally disappeared, value-added cards quickly gained popularity. For example, on a map of New York you can see the most crime-ridden areas and areas where you can feel safe.

It is no coincidence that the second open source project in Mail.Ru Group (after the Tarantool database) was offline maps MAPS.ME, based on OpenStreetMap data. The point of the OSM project (like MAPS.ME) is to give every person in the world a free map with which they can do anything. Over the thousands of years of card history, it was difficult to imagine such a thing, and pocket cards themselves appeared only in the 19th century. Now instead of pockets there is a smartphone, but at least the cards no longer need the Internet. Another difference between OSM and cartography of the past is accessibility. Anyone can independently make additions to the map almost as easily as making edits to a Wikipedia article. One of the most high-profile updates to MAPS.ME this year was the ability to edit maps by users themselves. Thanks to this, we will be able to find benches, fountains, and the best places to take photos on maps.

The advantages of open (in every sense) cards over commercial solutions are their versatility. The same terrain map with different sets of data is used in a huge number of situations. With the help of OSM, they mark forest paths and dirt roads, food distribution points in the poorest regions, forest fires... You name it!

Disadvantages of the era

Comparing maps of the past - not only from the Middle Ages, but also two thousand years ago - with modern ones, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that maps have evolved into a utilitarian information product. The design has become much simpler, and the cards themselves, oddly enough, are less detailed. Looking around the three-meter Renaissance canvas, you could see dozens, if not hundreds of additional objects along your route. The smartphone offers to reflect only what reflects the UX logic of the map creators: that is, the minimum available information per unit area.

The digital map does not need to impress with its design, because it seems to be just an add-on above the search bar - we are looking for ATMs, hotels, the shortest route, the nearest attraction. The map became not a guide to the world, but a time-saving tool. Extra information on it only wastes a person’s time resource. “People's Maps” solves this issue to the best of its ability by introducing filters - while there is still an opportunity to see the city with all the diversity of its objects.

What does data minimization lead to? . This does not mean that some objects disappear from the map: you just need to reduce the scale. This method has both supporters (maps look clearer on a mobile device) and opponents (an unfamiliar area needs to be scaled and searched by squares if you don’t know the exact name of the object). The map, which at first glance is not overloaded with information, will only suggest the shortest route, and not the one where the most beautiful, safe, quiet path opens.

Modern maps are made not by artists/designers, not even cartographers, but by programmers. This is the requirement of the era, because if you don’t adapt the map to any mobile device, simply no one will use it. The map has ceased to be a work of art, has lost the terrible monsters that swallow ships, and at the same time has become surprisingly monotonous.

However, compared to ancient maps, modern ones have one significant advantage - they change very quickly. The day is not far off when the card will become fully personalized. For some, it will give details that require comprehension of all the details and nuances, for others - only a condensed, concentrated fact about the area.

One of the interesting examples of the movement towards “personalization” is a map (with open source) of places of real walking distance Galton, built on the basis of OSM. The map is named after Francis Galton, an English explorer and geographer who in 1881 compiled the Isochronic passage chart, indicating the number of days to travel from Great Britain to various places.

A fragment of a map of "quiet" areas of New York, obtained based on an analysis of data on noise complaints.

What does such a card give? In addition to the obvious solution (where you can get to in a certain time, if you don’t know how to walk on water and pass through walls), you can calculate the rating of a place taking into account many parameters of objects located within walking distance.

Sooner or later, a single map of the world will cease to exist, because for different groups of people the world will be filled with different events. The metamorphoses will not affect basic concepts, such as generally accepted state boundaries or distances between cities, but the motorist, pedestrian, cyclist and bar-goer will be able to find exactly what interests them in the geography of the surrounding space.

And the map will again become a source of discoveries.