Historical Development of Cartography

Historical Development of Cartography

The history of cartography science dates back to the beginning as well as the beginning of the times when humans first settled. Those who have settled down have drawn simple sketches showing their locations and areas such as hunting and feeding close to them. In this way, they provided convenience in reaching their needs. The oldest of these maps is BC. It was a drawing made in 6200 and showing the city plan of Çatalhöyük. The development of trade has caused many innovations to emerging with trade. After the trade developed, the construction of large-scale maps showing trade routes and raw material sources has accelerated. These maps have been used frequently in daily life by many people.

The first truly literal map that reached this time is BC. It is a map of Babylon drawn on a clay tablet corresponding to the 3800s. It is useful to take a look at the processes of cartography starting from the Ancient Age. If these processes are analyzed, today's map drawing methods will be better understood. BC by Herodotus In the 5th century, it was assumed that the earth was in the shape of an oval plane. The world map is shown as three continents in the world map drawn by Herodot himself. These three big continents; It is stated as Asia, Europe, and North Africa. The first map must be this way.

Concepts for latitude and longitude are also based on this special map of Herodotus. B.C. It was suggested by Aristotle that the world was in the form of a sphere in the 4th century. He stated that there is the curvature on the sea surface and the shadow of the ground falls around the moon during the lunar eclipse. The heights of the stars in different latitudes and the sun in different longitudes were therefore different. B.C. It is known that Eratosthenes, who lived in the 3rd century, made environmental calculations of the world correctly and the world map was drawn. This development has been a huge event for cartography.

Strabon, BC As a geologist who lived in the 1st century, he thought that the world model, which he developed himself, consisted of 5 different generations located between the poles and that there was no life in the southern part of the equator. The validity of geography as a branch of science took place in the time of Ptolemaios. In this period, different claims were made about the shape of the world. A.D. In the 2nd century it was believed that there was an ocean surrounding the world by philosophers. According to the continuation of this idea, the world was in the form of a floating disc in the middle of this ocean. The disc-shaped world was constantly moving in the middle of the ocean. This belief was adopted by the church for a long time. This belief was valid in Europe until the 15th century. The fact that Europe adopts such a thought geographically is an important indication that it is completely under the pressure of the church and that positive science has not yet developed due to the church.

During this period, the Romans and mapping were given serious importance. In this period, the lands, natural resources, trade routes, harbors and sea routes owned by the Romans were drawn on the maps and these maps had a rolled form. Finding a place has become even easier using maps when needed. Cartography began to decline to some extent after the empire collapsed as a result of the church's influence. Cartography started to be popular again as before when Islam was getting stronger. The Arabs translated the works of Ancient Greece into their language. After this situation, they have advanced significantly in cartography and astronomy. By 1154, the work of making the most accurate world map known by Mohammed al-Idrisi, an Arab geographer, has started. As a result of these studies, a quality map was made by Muhammed el İdrisi. In line with this decision, he prepared the medieval atlas known under the name Tabula Rogeriana by combining the information collected through Arab traders and explorers. While the latitude and longitude of the important places are included in this map, the distance of these places from each other and in which climate belts they are located are also indicated. This is one of the developments considered important in terms of cartography.

This last map has a feature that has been used for the next three centuries and is known as the most accurate map. It greatly facilitated the activities of many seafarers. Until the 15th century, the world was considered to be circular or flat in Europe. The world maps drawn during these periods were slightly different. In the middle of these maps, there were circles where rivers and seas divide lands in T-shape. This is why these maps are called T-O maps. The most popular of these were the maps named Hereford and Ebstorf. In the middle ages, maps were generally named Mappa Mundi in Europe. Map drawing techniques have also changed since the end of the 18th century. The technique of portolan has been used in the drawings of the maps. This technique was first used by Genoese captains.

The Portolan technique also led cartography to be moved to a different dimension. This technique was spread all over Europe soon. All details were on the portolan for a safe journey. Portolans served as an important guide for seafarers. They were guides with a lot of functionality. The common features of the maps drawn in the Portolan technique were that they provided direction determination with windrose without using latitude and longitude lines. From the wind roses placed at the key points, the linear direction lines crossed the length of the map. Latitude and longitude measurement techniques were not yet discovered at that time. Naturally, sailors were determining the direction by referring to the portolan lines. The distances between coasts, ports, and islands were determined by route lines at certain reference points. After a captain moved in the harbor, he was able to calculate how far he traveled through the scales on the map.

These documents were drawn on leather parchments so that they were not affected by the sea conditions. This enabled portolanes to be functional for many years without any damage. Portolans were often made in color and decorated with different paintings. There were explanatory articles in the sea and land sections of Portolan. At first, portolan showing small and narrow areas started to show larger and larger areas with the development and progression of maritime. Documents showing narrower areas were used for daily use. These were called isolario. The oldest isolario dates back to 1420. In daily life, the use of isolario was more common than the use of portolanes. European map plotters from the 15th century to the 17th century, in the Age of Discoveries, drew their maps based on the observations of the explorers by copying the maps drawn in previous periods. The Ottoman State, which was in a superior position in the Mediterranean in the 15th and 16th centuries, lived its golden age in shipping. This has led Turkish sailors to develop a lot in the field of cartography. İbrahim Clerk, Piri Reis, Mursi İbrahim, Hacı Ebul Hasan and Ali Macar Reis made great contributions to the development of cartography with the maps they drew at that time. The developments in the field of astronomy starting from the 17th century have also allowed latitude and longitude calculations. Galilei's discovery of the moons of Jupiter planet and calculating the time of their eclipse led to important developments in the field of cartography. This has been a great revolution.

Based on these discoveries, technological developments and new inventions applied to sea maps in the following years did not take place until the 19th century. Since the 20th century, after the important developments in the field of aviation and space, maps were started to be made flawlessly. While cartography is developing, projection techniques have developed rapidly. In this area, Marinus mentioned the meridian and its parallel circles, which are based on the exact measurement of positions according to mathematical relations. This event is M.S. It took place in the 1st century. The map drawing methods mentioned in the geography book written by Ptolemy who lived a century after this important name is also accepted as the first projection experiment. It would be useful to give an example to better understand these processes. Consider a transparent earth globe with a light source inside. When a cylinder tangent to the equator is placed around it, the parallel and meridian lines on it will be reflected in the plane in two dimensions. This method was first made in 1568 by the Flemish mathematician and cartographer Gerardus Mercator. This method is called Mercator Cylindrical Projection. There are very few deformities occurring on the map. As we begin to move away from the equator, area distortions begin to increase.

These distortions caused by reflection also brought to mind the idea of how the earth globe will be transferred to the plane of the map. Many different projection types have been developed for centuries according to the location of the region on the earth, for what purpose the map is used, the scale of the map, the real size of the area and the real shape of the area. Among these very different projection techniques developed over the centuries, it is useful to briefly mention the methods that are considered important for mapping and used in this field. Important projection techniques are:

• Mollweide Projection: A pseudo cylindrical projection produced by German national Carl Mollweide in 1805. In this projection, a circle is formed based on the 90 degrees west and east meridians and the middle meridians.

• Van der Grinten Projection: It was produced in 1904 as a result of the work of the American Alphons van der Grinten. The projection of the earth is made in the form of a circle. Features such as length, angle or area protection are not available in this projection.

• Winkel Projection: It was developed in 1914 with the work of German national Oswald Winkel. It is a projection with the feature of showing the earth globe with the least distortion rate. It is a frequently used projection method.

• Goode (Homolosine) Projection: It is a project developed by the American John Paul Goode in 1923 as a discrete projection. This projection; Mollweide projection was created by combining Sinusoidal projection. It provides extra benefits compared to Mollweide projection.

Eckerd IV Projection: Developed in 1936 as a result of the work of German citizen Max Exert. This projection is a pseudo-cylindrical projection type. It is generally used in world maps in atlases. It is regarded as one of the indispensable projections of the world maps. Miller Cylindrical Projection: It is a type of projection developed by American citizen Osborn Maitland Miller in 1942. It is a special form of Mercator projection that has been developed and modified. It has more features than a Mercator projection. Robinson Projection: It was produced by American citizen Arthur Robinson in 1963. It has the feature of being a projection with optimum deformation. This projection is often used in world maps. It is a preferred method because of this feature. Transversal Mercator Projection: It is formed by operating the projection of the Mercator type in a transversal position. The projection surface of the cylinder passes tangentially along a meridian called the middle meridian to the earth sphere. The projection formulas of this projection were developed by the German Gauss and Kruger. For this reason, this projection is also known as Gauss Kruger Projection. It is a useful projection.