History of the World Map by Map

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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.

History of the World Map by Map also explains how elements of civilization, such as writing, printing, and tool-making, came into being and spread from one country to another. It tells of the rise of the world's great religions and of human endeavour such as the voyages of early explorers. It charts stories of adversity such as the abolition of slavery, and shows how people have always migrated for a better life, from the very first humans moving across Africa, to millions of 19th-century Europeans crossing the Atlantic in search of the American dream. Indeed, everyday people were realizing that a map was an act of persuasion, a visual rhetoric. In 1553, gentry in Surrey, England, drew a map of the town’s central fields, to prove these were common lands—and that villagers thus should be allowed to graze animals there. The map, they wrote, would allow for “the more playne manifest and direct understondying” of the situation. Maps, says Rose Mitchell, a map archivist at the National Archives of the U.K., were “used to settle arguments.” Meanwhile, educated people began collecting maps and displaying them “to show off how knowledgeable they were,” she adds. Even if you couldn’t read the words on a map from a foreign country, you could generally understand it, and even navigate by it. The persuasive power of a map was its glanceability. It was data made visual.

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Released in 2005, Google Earth provided an interactive, 3D image of the globe formed from millions of overlapping satellite photographs overlaid on a 3D digital earth. Close-up 3D details are added from aerial images that capture the depth of buildings and terrain. Equates socialism with the USSR. p. 234. (In fact, socialism is public schools, and all other government-provided public services. The USSR was autocracy.) T H E A N C I E N T W O R L D 3 0 0 0 b c e – 5 0 0 c e 200 bce–9 ce The Romans 3 THE FIRST ALPHABETS 1500–1050bce 4 WESTERN ALPHABETS 1050bce–250ce take their alphabet with them as they conquer The earliest alphabet – a system of symbols denoting The peoples who traded with the Phoenicians, such western Europe all language sounds, both consonants and vowels – as the Greeks and Etruscans, adapted the Phoenician DENMARK can be traced to c. 1500 bce, as what is known as alphabet for their own languages. The Roman alphabet, Proto-Canaanite or Proto-Sinaitic. Some experts now used all over the world, derives from the script suspect it developed from a subset of Egyptian of the Etruscans. Exactly how the alphabet reached hieroglyphs. The people who used it passed the idea northern Europe, where it might have triggered the on to the Phoenicians, who had developed it into their development of runic alphabets, remains unknown. own alphabet by 1050 bce. Being maritime traders, they took their alphabet around the Mediterranean. Spread of alphabets Phoenician- Runic alphabets influenced alphabet Proto-Canaanite and Phoenician alphabets BRITAIN 200–300 ce Runes – alphabetic 1600 bce The earliest known ASIA scripts made up of straight writing in Greek is in the “Linear B” GAUL lines – develop in northern script of the Myceneans Massalia Germany and Scandinavia 1050 bce The Phoenician alphabet Gades EUROPE contains 22 symbols denoting only 700 bce The Etruscans of consonants – these three are northern Italy, borrowing equivalent to the Roman 250 bce Brahmi script from the Phoenicians and “B”, “H”, and “S” (possibly influenced by Greeks, develop their Rome GREECE Hattushash syllabic or alphabetic own alphabetic script scripts from the West) ITALY Troy Tell Brak 3400 bce Pictographs Sahara Mycenae in Sumer (southern is used in India LUWIA M Mesopotamia) represent Syracuse esop the earliest known writing M editerrane Crete Ugarit o t a a n Sea mia Arabia Susa Harappa Valley Uruk 1750 bce The Minoans of Crete Memphis Persepolis I ndus write in their own version of EGYPT Mohenjo-Daro hieroglyphs, but also use an Ganges as-yet-undeciphered script Pataliputra called Linear A 1700–1500 bce Proto-Canaanite, the earliest known alphabet, is thought to have 2 EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHS 3200bce–400ce 2050 bce By the Nile travelled from the Nile 200 ce Arabic script INDIA Middle Kingdom of Delta or Sinai Peninsula develops in the early The Egyptians developed their hieroglyphs towards Egypt, some hieroglyphs to the Levant centuries ce, and may have the end of the 4th millennium bce. Hieroglyphs are have come to denote SABA’ evolved from the script of pictorial symbols representing ideas, syllables, or sounds, such as “m” the Nabateans, who built sounds. People used them mainly for carved temple (owl), “b” (lower leg), the city of Petra in what inscriptions. Hieroglyphs fell out of use after the and “aa” (forearm) is now Jordan temples to the Egyptian gods closed in the 4th century ce, but this was not before the idea of hieroglyphic A F R I C AETHIOPIA 2600–1800 bce The origin and writing seems to have passed to Crete and Anatolia. 900 bce subsequent disppearance of the Indus Alphabetic writing Valley script are both mysteries, and its Egyptian hieroglyphs Spread of hieroglyphs spreads south to intricate symbols are not yet understood become the ancient South Arabian script, centuries before Arabic took over 600 bce–100 ce 1 PICTOGRAPHS TO CUNEIFORM 3400bce–100ce Ancient Ethiopic (Ge’ez) evolves as Writing was first devised in Sumer. Sumerian an offshoot of scribes first used pictographs (picture-like South Arabian symbols), but simplified these into wedge- ▷ Never to be forgotten shaped marks. These marks give the Hieroglyphs were painstaking to technique its name, which comes from the write and were not used for Latin cuneus – a wedge. From Sumerian everyday purposes. They were cities such as Uruk, cuneiform spread used for inscriptions intended to across Mesopotamia, and peoples from last forever – and these, on the the Hittites in Turkey to the Persians in tomb of Nefertari, queen of Iran used it to write their languages. pharaoh Rameses II, appear new after more than 3,250 years. Cuneiform tablet Sumerian cuneiform Spread of cuneiform The stars I give are for accuracy, which seems solid. Except that the “historical record” depends on artifacts or preserved written material. Grateful that the muslim arabs preserved the works of the greeks and romans for it to be “rediscovered”, and that the middle eastern desert preserved scrolls. European diseases killing 90% of the “native” population of the Americas gets a mention, but why just only a mention.

While, for an avid historian, it presents little, if anything, that is new, what it does present is so attractively done that it seductively entices you to read it, cover to cover. It is a fascinating book even for the serious historian who may well have “seen it all”. It is equally attractive to readers of all ages from about ten and above.

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You wonder what was really going on when Yugoslavia broke into war, "ethnic cleansing" became a phrase in the news, and Yugoslavia disappeared to become seven new countries. If you weren't paying too much attention during history classes, here's your chance to pay catch up. You know there were people living throughout North America before Columbus stumbled upon Hispaniola in 1492, but you may be surprised by the maps that show the volume of settlements by a diverse number of native cultures across the current U.S. and Latin America. A magnificent and beautifully illustrated book in the best of DK (or Dorling Kindersley) tradition. From the detailed credits, It can be assumed that much of the first rate artwork was undertaken in India where the publisher obviously maintains a large and very talented staff. That artwork is simply brilliant.

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. Historic Digimap provides access to 1:10 560, 1:2500 and 1:1250 data from 1846-1996; two maps of the same area can be compared on screen at once. The Babylonian Map of the World, etched in the 6th century B.C. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images // Getty Images Maps which combine beautiful illustration with satellite relief data for unrivalled accuracy and detail

PREHISTORY BEFORE WRITTEN RECORDS BEGAN IN AROUND 3000 BCE, THE STORY OF HUMANS WAS RECORDED FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS BY THE FOSSILS AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRACES OUR ANCESTORS LEFT BEHIND. 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.

Farming presented as progress--no admission that it was resorted to only when the abundant game was gone.Is it possible that today’s global positioning systems and smartphones are affecting our basic ability to navigate? Will technology alter forever how we get around?