Overview
Cartography is the science or practice of drawing maps.
Definition and History
The term originally meant the making of maps. Cartography entered into the history of multimodal writing/media studies because it is another form of non-traditional communications. Scholars that have been instrumental in defining it are Ptolemy, Anaximander, and Hipparchus. Anaximander is credited with being the first to attempt making a map of the known world.
Shown to the right is a Babylonian clay tablet.
The beginning of mapping can be seen more than 5,000 years ago. Maps mainly depicted small areas. They were very illustrated but they were not oriented according to how maps are now, with north, east, south and west. The maps did not correctly display the earth, they had details focused towards the middle that trailed off toward the edges. Maps used to be more of an artistic illustration, and served as a useful document second.
The Greeks and Romans advanced the map, with the work of Claudius Ptolemaeus, a geographer, mathematician, and astronomer from Roman Egypt. Around 150 AD, Ptolemaeus released Geographia, which contained thousands of maps from across the world, all with references to location via longitude and latitude lines. This then changed European maps, they then began to incorporate mathematical rules.
Throughout the Middle Ages, European maps were mainly produced within monasteries. Due to this, they were more religiously focused, many having Jerusalem in the center of the world, while Asia was at the top. They also tended to have many decorations, including angels. However, in the Islamic world, Al-Idrisi produced many superior world maps and books.
The Renissance brought about many changes. The printing press meant monasteries were not the primary map producers, the discovery of the Americas expanded distances, maps became available to all types of people, and an increase in knowledge brought about an improvement in mapping.
In the late 1700’s, maps began to include information about certain events, like the location of a plague or the extent of natural disasters (Fundamentals of Mapping).
Examples
One example would be Anaximander's 6th century BC world map. This map features only 3 continents: Europe, Asia and Libya. These 3 continents are arranged in a way that is similar to slices of pie forming a circle. Another example would be our modern day world map. This map, as I am sure you are already familiar with, has 7 continents.
There are also non-traditonal rhetorical maps. One example would be the map shown in class of a women wearing a high-cut skirt with marks on her legs meaning different things. At the bottom of her leg near her ankle is a mark saying prude and at the top of her leg near her hips and butt is a mark saing slut.
Critical Conversation
An argument concerning cartography is what counts as a map. Three scholars that have debated about this are Harmon in his article "Maps as Art," Peterson in his book "Interactive and Animated Cartography" and JM Kraak in his book "Web Cartography."
Resources and Further Readings
1. Book "Web Cartography" by JM Kraak- The web is the new medium for spreading maps.
2. Book "Interactive and Animated Cartography" by Michael P. Peterson- There is a new cartography in which maps narrate and cartographic symbols move.
3. Article on National Post "How cartography works in the digital age and what it means for Canada" by Joe O'Connor - Mistakes in a map tell a story of the land and culture.
4. Wikipedia Article "List of Cartographers" - This article makes a list of cartographers from the beginning of history to modern day.
5. Wikipedia Article "Cartography" - This article defines cartography and discusses its history.
Relevant Keywords
Multimodality Multimodality
"Map as Art" by Harmon "Map as Art" by Harmon
Citations
http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/facultybooks/50/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cartographers
Fundamentals of Mapping