The Worlds Oldest Maps

Man has been carving symbols in to stones as well as upon cavern walls for thousands of years so it was usually a make a difference of time before maritime inscriptions would arise to assistance guide a hunting as well as foraging patterns. From cavern drawings as well as Babylonian clay tablets to mill carvings as well as papyrus text, here are a little of a worlds oldest maps (in no particular order).

1418 Ming Dynasty Map
The map graphic upon top of is pronounced to be a copy of an strange 1418 Ming Dynasty Map, that potentially proves that in a 15th century, a Chinese were already exploring a shores of modern-day North America. This chronicle was copied in 1763 by artist Mo Yi-tong as well as was sold for $500.

Read A Review of a Historical Importance of Oldest World Map by Gunnar Thompson, PhD for some-more information.

atalhyk 6200 B.C. Babylonian Clay Map
During a 1963 excavation in Ankara, Turkey, British archeologist James Mellaart unearth what is pronounced to be one of a beginning well known maps. The map, in a form of a wall painting, was radiocarbon-dated behind to 6,200 + 97 B.C, as well as a archeologist believed it was a map of a locale atalhyk.

Read some-more about a atalhyk map here.

6th century Babylonian Clay Tablet
Currently sitting in a British Museum, this clay tablet map is from approximately 600 B.C. It was detected in southern Iraq upon a easterly bank of a Euphrates River.

Read some-more about this as well as alternative Babylonian maps here.

1883 Reconstruction of Eratostheness 276-194 BCE map

North African philosopher Eratosthenes from Cyrene (now complicated day Libya) was credited as being a initial geographer to etch parallels as well as meridians in his map that was formed upon Alexander a Greats campaigns across Asia. The map shown upon top of is a 1883 reformation of Eratosthenes strange version.

Read some-more about Eratosthenes here.

1898 reformation of Pomponius Melas world map

Ancient Roman geographer Pomponius was a initial to divide a earth in to 5 zones; of that usually dual were able to await life according to him.

Read some-more about Pomponius Melas here.

4th Century Tabula Peutingeriana (Small territory shown above)

The Tabula Peutingeriana, well known as a Peutinger Map depicts a highway network of a Roman Empire. Named after a 15th-16th century humanist called Konrad Peutinger, a map spans Europe, India, as well as North-Africa. The map is currently during a National Library in Vienna, Austria.

Check out a considerable Tabula Peutingeriana in its entirety.

14th Century Nautical Map
The Library of Congress currently binds a oldest cartographic artifacta nautical chart depicting a Mediterranean Sea.

Find some-more historical nautical maps during a Library of Congress.

1824 AD Tur! in Papyr us Map
Drawn around 1160BC by Amennakhte, a well well known scribe, upon papyrus detected in Thebes, Egypt, a Turin Papyrus Map is pronounced to be a oldest surviving topographical map. It was brought to Europe by Napoleans consul to Egypt, Bernadino Drovetti, as well as right away sits in a Turin Museum in Italy.

Read Turin Papyrus Map from Ancient Egypt by James A. Harrell, Ph.D. for more.

14,000 year old Spanish Cave Stone Tablet

In 2009, archaeologists in Spain detected what theyre billing a beginning map well known to male during 14,000 years old. Found in a cavern in a Navarra region of Spain, a engravings upon a mill etch a landscape of mountains, rivers, as well as areas of great foraging as well as hunting.

Read some-more about this mill tablet upon a Telegraph UKs site.

Community Connection

Check out this endless listing of early maps damaged down by era as well as age from ancient times through a center ages as well as after 1492.

Were map lovers here during Matador so review a little of a map-related articles below:

Going Old-School: Paper Maps from National Geographic
Maps as well as Travel : How Would You Map Your Travels?
Mad for Maps
World Atlas App: Nat Geo Maps upon Your iPhone

Know of any intriguing ancestral map? Please share with us below.