Geographical objects on the map of Eratosthenes. Development of cartographic ideas and concepts. Anaximander was ahead of his time

He created the first geographical map of the world in 240 BC. e. Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, astronomer and geographer Eratosthenes of Cyrene(c. 276 - 194 BC). The geographical map of Eratosthenes gives an approximate geographical idea of ​​the location of cities and countries of the ancient world. Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene (North Africa), and educated in Alexandria and Athens. Eratosthenes of Cyrene was the tutor of the crown prince at the court of the king of Egypt, Ptolemy III Euergetes of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and was in charge of the Library of Alexandria around 225 BC. e., and compiled a catalog starry sky, noting 675 fixed stars in it.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene founded a scientific system of chronology in which dates were counted from the time of the conquest of Troy. He proposed introducing one extra day into the calendar every 4 years to coordinate the calendar with the movement of the Sun.

The geographical map of the ancient world drawn by the hand of Eratosthenes has not reached us, but it can be fairly accurately recreated from the surviving descriptions. The geographical points through which the mapmaker drew parallels and meridians are well known, and what the distance between the parallels and meridians was in the Egyptian stages.

Among the astronomical works of Eratosthenes, the most famous are the first measurement of the arc of the earth's meridian, the determination of the circumference of the Earth in 240 BC. e., and calculated the distance from the Earth to the Sun and Moon. To do this, Eratosthenes carried out measurements, finding out the height of the Sun at the time of the summer solstice, and measured the distance between the cities of Syene (in the south of Egypt) and Alexandria, which lie approximately on the same meridian. Eratosthenes knew that the Earth was a sphere, and calculated its circumference in Egyptian stages. According to Eratosthenes' calculations, the circumference of the Earth is 250,000 stadia. It is known that one Egyptian stage is equal to 157.7 meters.

As a result of calculations using Eratosthenes' map, the circumference of the Earth was 39,690 km; in fact, he was wrong by only 319 km, making the Earth's circumference smaller than it actually was. Summarizing the stories of contemporary travelers of the ancient world, Eratosthenes of Cyrene estimated the length of Eurasia from west to east at 11,000 km, gave a geographical description of the ecumene - the entire then known world, and came to the conclusion: “If it were not for the enormous size of the ocean surrounding our ecumene, it would be possible, sailing west, to reach India.”

1. Eratosthenes made the island of Rhodes his starting point, and he called all the countries south of Rhodes “southern”, and the countries north of Rhodes “northern”.

2. In the Library of Alexandria, Eratosthenes made all his discoveries and left his works.

3. Having measured the distance between Alexandria and Syene (Aswan), Eratosthenes took measurements of the height of the Sun at the moment of the summer solstice and calculated the length of the meridian.

4. Eratosthenes knew that one of the branches of the Danube flows into the Adriatic Sea. The Thracian name for the Danube is “Istr”, lat. Istros or Hister.

5. Eratosthenes considered the extreme western point of Europe to be the Sacred Cape (Sao Vicente), the southwestern point of modern Portugal.

6. The Strait of Gibraltar, known in the ancient world as the Pillars of Heracles, according to Eratosthenes, was formed during the Trojan War.

7. The northernmost point of the earth where the ancient Greeks visited, presumably Thule, is located on the coast of Norway. Eratosthenes considered the lands located north of Thule unsuitable for life.

8. Eratosthenes marked the border of Europe and Asia along the Tanais River (Don River). The lower reaches of the Don are still considered the border between Europe and Asia today.

9. The ancient Greeks thought that the Caspian Sea was a gulf of the Northern Ocean.

10. At the latitude of the island of Taprobane (the island of Sri Lanka), according to Eratosthenes, it is so hot that the southern part of the island is uninhabited.

Geographic map- this is a reduced image of the earth’s surface on a plane with accepted conventional signs. The map is the greatest invention of mankind. Geographic maps depict entire states, and sometimes several states, and even the entire globe.

Man has always needed plans and maps. They appeared much earlier than the first letters, the first hieroglyphs. They have come a long way from drawings to accurate, mathematically verified models of areas of the earth's surface. Maps are constantly updated, because the appearance of the Earth is constantly changing: the flow of the river changes, glaciers advance and retreat, geographical objects created by man appear. In the 20th century, people saw the Earth from airplanes and spaceships. Knowledge about the Earth has increased, and the possibilities for creating maps have expanded.

The first geographical maps

First geographic Maps appeared back in the Stone Age. In ancient times, the Earth seemed huge to people. They gradually got to know her during their travels. A journey is a hike or voyage during which people, leaving their native places, visit new lands.

The motorist takes with him road map. Tourists need it when traveling local map, along which they have to go. Maps are needed by geologists, builders, ship captains, and the military. A map of treasure island, accidentally discovered in a pirate's chest, became the beginning of an adventure novel...

A brief physical and geographical description can be given using only two maps: physical card hemispheres and natural areas globe. These maps are not very detailed. They do not have the names of many mountains, plateaus, lowlands, seas, bays, straits, rivers, lakes, etc. But with more detailed maps, the characteristics of any part of the world or a separate part of the continent can be given much more fully.

There are special cards. Among them - climatic, on which symbols show the average temperatures of July and January, the directions of the prevailing winter and summer winds, the average annual precipitation, the highest and lowest temperatures, the thickness of snow cover in different parts of the globe. There are cards mineral, soil, cards vegetation. On economic-geographical maps it shows where various minerals are mined and processed, what industry is developed in cities, what crops are grown in this or that region of the globe. On political maps Countries are shown in different colors and their capitals are labeled.

Physical card

Historical map

Historical map is an image of the Earth or a large part of the earth's surface in different times history of mankind. A historical map can indicate battle sites, ancient fortresses, front lines, trade routes, cities, and cultural monuments that date back to a certain time.

The same territory depicted on maps at different times looks different. A historical map helps you see what changes have occurred in a particular area.

The title of a historical map always includes an indication of the time to which it relates. For example, “Ancient Egypt”, “Europe of the 15th century”, “Formation of the Old Russian state (IX-X centuries)”.

A historical map allows you to answer the question of where the event took place. There are rules that you need to remember when starting to work with historical map.

Historical plan

Contour maps for history

Contour maps of history show only the outlines of territories at one time or another. On them you can see lines indicating rivers, seas, and the location of cities marked with dots. This is the basis. On contour map names of objects are applied in the process of studying historical events.

Geographical atlas

Various cards collected together in the form of an album are called geographical atlas.

globe

Image on the map

Methods of cartographic representation

Scale

The scale of the maps is small. After all, the Earth is large, and in order to show its entire surface or one continent on a map, the image on the map has to be reduced millions of times. For example, a map scale of 1: 10,000,000 (“1 cm is 100 km”) means that all distances on the map are reduced by ten million times. 2 cm on the map corresponds to two hundred kilometers on the ground, and so on. The scale of maps of the entire Earth or individual continents is very small: for example, 1: 50,000,000, i.e. 1 cm is 500 km. It is clear that such maps can only show the main geographical objects - mountains and plains, large rivers, islands.

The smaller the territory shown on the map, the larger and more detailed it can be shown. The territory of any one country, one region is often called a region - for example, the region of the Mediterranean Sea, can be shown in more detail. For this purpose, maps are made at larger scales, for example 1: 5,000,000, i.e. in 1 cm 50 km, 1: 1,000,000, i.e. 1 cm is 10 km. On such maps you can show not only the main rivers, but also their tributaries, not only seas, but also bays. IN different cases It is convenient to use maps of different scales, which show the whole world, a separate continent or region.

Legend

Map makers must reduce the image of the Earth and its large parts many times to fit on a sheet of paper. Many objects on the map are indicated by conventional symbols (figures, arrows, lines). Their explanations are given in the section “Conventions”. The map is painted in different colors and contains inscriptions. The list (set) of symbols and explanations used on the map is called map legend.

Conditional lines

The maps depict conventional lines: poles, equator lines and degree grids (meridians and parallels).

Equator

At an equal distance from the poles, a line encircles the globe on globes and maps equator. The length of the equator is 40,000 km.

Degree grid

Since the Earth is a sphere, all distances on its surface can be measured in degrees of circumference. Lines of meridians and parallels divided into degrees are called degree grid. Using a degree grid, you can determine the geographic location of any point on the Earth's surface.

• Meridians- these are lines that cross the globe from pole to pole.
• Parallels- these are lines that go around the globe parallel to the equator.

Date line

Isohypses (horizontals)

On the maps, territories with close absolute altitudes are painted the same color. Individual relief forms are not depicted on them. It is impossible to show them on a small scale. Only individual mountain peaks and deep depressions are marked with dots, near which their height or depth is indicated.

On some large scale maps the relief is shown, as on the plan, using contour lines. On other maps you can see the relief image using a “shading”. In this case, the picture of mountains and valleys becomes very clear, but determining their height is difficult.

Map projection

“Exploring an unfamiliar land always begins with a map... You can wander on a map in the same way as on land, but then, when you get to this real land, knowledge of the map immediately affects you - you no longer wander blindly and don’t waste time on trifles.” , - these are the words of the writer Konstantin Paustovsky.

They read the map in the same way as a book, they think about it. She answers many questions, poses new ones and helps answer them. Why do rivers flow exactly this way, where is it better to build a seaport, lay railway? These and other problems can be solved only by carefully studying the map. Knowing how to read a map, you can learn about what peoples inhabit the Earth, in what natural conditions they live, how the economy is developed in different countries, and much more. Everyone should learn to read and understand a map, because without knowledge of a map there is no

Eratosthenes (276 BC - 194 BC) in Greece, Alexandria. As mentioned earlier, Eratosthenes not only proved that the earth is round, but also introduced the concepts of “parallels” and “meridians”. Unlike his predecessors, Eratosthenes represented the earth in the form of an oval island; he depicted it as looking like a short cloak and showed various geographical objects on it more correctly and in detail. Eratosthenes was the first to make a map taking into account its spherical shape. And it was used until the end of the 1st century. In the Geographical Society she received great success, (so to speak), and yet there was one very major mistake in it. On it is written a non-existent strait between the Caspian Sea and the Northern Ocean. His map was used by everyone, travelers and geographers, until Ptolemy made another revolution in cartography.

Ptolemy.

Ptolemy was born ca. 100 and died approx. 170, lived in Alexandria. Ptolemy was a versatile scientist and, in addition to cartography, studied astronomy, astrology, mathematics, mechanics, optics, and music.

But despite such a motley list of activities, Ptolemy spent a lot of time and left big inheritance in cartography. A collection of works entitled “Geography” was dedicated to her, consisting of eight parts. It described how to make it and what to write on the map; it also listed about eight thousand names various objects terrain - cities, rivers, mountains, bays. Using these data, it was entirely possible to produce a map similar to the modern one.

Also included were 27 maps, among them a detailed map of the land, the better of which was not made until the 15th century. It depicts three parts of the world: Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Geographic maps were created and improved over two millennia by measuring the coordinates of an increasing number of points on the Earth's surface. The “blank spots” between known objects were filled with pictures based on the stories of travelers, as well as drawings from nature. Gradually the maps became more and more detailed and accurate. The appearance of the Earth, its parts, and localities was reflected in drawings, paintings, diagrams, and blueprints.

Ancient Greek geographers distinguished only two parts of the world - Europe and Asia. At that time, Europe included the countries located to the north and west of, and Asia included the eastern territories. During the period of Roman rule on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the name of the third part of the world - Africa - appeared on maps.

In Figure 4 on p. 33 shows the map of Eratosthenes. He created it according to his ideas about the populated part of the land around the Mediterranean (Inland) Sea: Southern Europe, and the western part of Asia. To compile his map, Eratosthenes used the coordinates of a dozen points. The meridians on it are drawn not at equal intervals, but through certain points, for example through Alexandria, Carthage. Parallels are also drawn. Nevertheless, the grid of parallels and meridians allowed Eratosthenes, using known distances, to correctly show the relative positions of continents, mountains, rivers and cities.

Another great ancient Greek scientist, Ptolemy (2nd century AD), compiled an even more accurate map, using the geographic coordinates of eight thousand points. His cards were considered the best at that time. So much ground damage was applied to them geographical objects that one might think that land occupies almost the entire earth's surface. Nevertheless, detailed detailed images of the Earth's surface were worth their weight in gold among the Greek seafarers. An accurate depiction of the coastline was vital to them. After all, ships that went on long voyages to unknown shores risked without the correct detailed map crash on rocks and reefs.

Cities, roads and rivers on ancient maps

No less than sailors, merchants traveling to overseas countries on trade matters needed accurate maps. They needed to know exactly where they stood big cities with rich fairs and bazaars. The cards gave them the information they needed. Such settlements- large centers of trade - were shown on them: with reduced images of the walls of a fortress, city or gate. The number of inhabitants was not indicated on ancient maps.

Fresh water has always been of particular value to travelers.

As you know, its main source is rivers. Therefore, large waterways were shown on maps along with cities located on the banks. Still, most maps of that time were inaccurate. The followers of Eratosthenes, creating them on the basis of rumors and approximate descriptions of travelers, designated the rivers as they pleased, with some kind of winding lines, or even showed only the direction of the flow. Therefore, the exact location of many rivers was unknown to people.

There were far fewer waterways in the Mediterranean at that time than caravan trade routes. Most merchants preferred to transport their goods by land. The very first roads were built in the 4th millennium BC. e. In states Ancient world the construction of roads was very important due to the need to carry out campaigns of conquest and organize trade. Roads with stone covering existed in the Hittite kingdom, Assyria, and the Achaemenid empire.

The Roman Empire had a developed network of roads. In modern times, certain sections of the ancient tracts have still been preserved. This was facilitated not only by the caring attitude of Italians towards monuments ancient culture, but also a favorable climate.

While man has practically explored the earth far and wide, it is especially interesting to study ancient maps of bygone eras. Some of them imagine our world as a huge island washed by the ocean, others already have an idea of ​​other continents, and still others are so active that it is hard to believe in their human creation. One way or another, it is interesting to know how the ancient inhabitants of our planet imagined Antarctica, Australia and Europe.

Babylonian world map

The land on the Babylonian map is surrounded by a sea or ocean, indicated as " salty water" Beyond the seas are triangles that could be mountains of distant lands.

The map shows the state of Urartu (Ararat, modern Armenia), Assyria (modern Iraq), Elam (modern Iran) and Babylon proper. The Euphrates River flows through the middle.

Eratosthenes Island

Already the ancient Greeks knew that the Earth is a sphere. And they argued this elegantly. Pythagoras stated that everything in nature is harmonious, and the most perfect form is the ball. So the Earth is spherical.

The first map drawn up taking into account the sphericity of the Earth belongs to Eratosthenes, who lived in the 3rd century BC in the city of Cyrene. It is believed that it was this scientist, who headed the Library of Alexandria, who coined the term “ geography" He was also the first to draw the world into meridians and parallels, calling them “lines running side by side” and “midday lines.”

The world of Eratosthenes is one island, washed by the Northern Ocean above and the Atlantic below. It is divided into Europe, Libya, Arabia, Ariana, India, Scythia. To the south of India is the large island of Taproban, possibly Ceylon.

At the same time, Eratosthenes did not deny that they could live on the other hemisphere " antipodes" But it is impossible to get to them, since the ancient Greeks believed that it was so hot at the equator that all living things burned, and the sea boiled. Conversely, at the poles it is so cold that no person will survive.

Ptolemy's Map

For many centuries, the world map of the ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy, created around 150 BC, was considered the main one. It was attached to the eight-volume treatise "Guide to Geography". Ptolemy's map has come down to us not in the original, but in later copies.

Asia for Ptolemy occupies a huge space from the North Pole to the equator, displacing the Pacific Ocean. The outlines of India are greatly distorted. Africa smoothly flows into terra incognita, which occupies the entire south pole. To the north of Scythia is the mythical country of Hyperborea. Nothing is known about America and Australia.

Although Eratosthenes had already calculated the correct length of the earth's circumference, Ptolemy uses a different, erroneous value, less by a quarter.

It was thanks to Ptolemy's map that Christopher Columbus tried to reach India by sailing west. But even after the discovery of America, people continued to use Ptolemy’s map for a long time.

The idea that medieval people believed the earth was flat is nothing more than a myth. Even in the Middle Ages the earth was represented as a sphere.

However, medieval maps, or mappa mundi, were very sketchy. They were created not for practical use, but as visual illustrations of the universe. So the Sea of ​​Azov, for example, could be adjacent to the labyrinth of the Minotaur or the Garden of Eden, Africa was inhabited by the monsters mantichores, and mermaids swam in the seas, as on this Hereford map:

The diagrams of many medieval maps were reduced to the principle of T and O. The world ocean washing the ecumene, that is, inhabited lands, was depicted in the form of the letter O. This idea came from the ancient Greeks - remember the map of Eratosthenes. The lands within this ring were divided into three parts: Europe, Asia and Africa. Seas and rivers - the Mediterranean, the Aegean Sea, the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates - form the letter “T” dividing the parts of the world.

Jerusalem has always been located in the center of the map as " the center of the world" Unexplored territories were labeled as terra incognita (“ uncharted territory") or hic sunt leones ("there are lions here").

America Map

The first map of America was drawn in 1500 by Juan de la Cosa, who sailed as part of the first expeditions of Christopher Columbus.

The map of Juan de la Cos, inscribed on parchment and richly decorated, was a gift to Queen Isabella of Spain. This map only shows the east coast of America. The discoverers have not yet reached the Andes.

And seven years later, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller created a map of the world, where the continent discovered by Columbus was first named America. The map was printed on 12 wooden boards. It is interesting that Waldseemüller separated America and Asia by a large ocean, although the Pacific Ocean was not yet known.

In 2003, the US Library of Congress bought the only surviving copy for $10 million.

The mysterious map of Piri Reis

One of the first maps depicting South America and Antarctica was a map of the Turkish navigator, Admiral Piri Reis, drawn on the skin of a gazelle. It dates back to 1513, but mysteriously indicates places not yet known to contemporaries.

The Piri Reis map shows parts of the western coast of Europe and North Africa, various islands of the Atlantic Ocean. South America is outlined very accurately, it even depicts the Andes, which were not yet discovered at that time.

In addition, Antarctica is included on the Piri Reis map. This continent was discovered only in 1820, but there is nothing surprising here: many ancient cartographers assumed the existence of a certain “ southern land" However, there is no Drake Passage separating Antarctica from South America. The captions on the map say that the climate of Antarctica is warm and large snakes are found there.

When the unique map was discovered in the 20th century, many doubted its authenticity, since such accuracy could only be achieved with the help of aerial photography, a chronometer and knowledge of spherical trigonometry, unknown in the 16th century. There is still no sufficient evidence of either the authenticity or falsification of this map.

Piri Reis himself wrote that he used more ancient maps, including materials from the lost Library of Alexandria and a certain mysterious “map of Christopher Columbus.”

Arctida Mercator

“The sun shines there for six months... the luminaries there rise only once a year at the summer solstice, and set only at the winter solstice. This country is entirely in the sun, with a fertile climate and devoid of any harmful wind,” wrote Pliny the Elder about Hyperborea.

It was believed that in the center of Hyperborea there is a sea, and four large rivers flow from it and flow into the ocean. This is exactly how the Flemish cartographer Gerhard Mercator depicted the continent of Arctida. This map was published in 1595, a year after his death.

Around Arctida, located at the North Pole, Mercator quite accurately depicted Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, northern America and Eurasia.

Many scientists believe that in ancient times a continent could actually exist at the North Pole. True, it was flooded long before Mercator - at least 5 thousand years ago. Soviet geographer Yakov Gakkel suggested that, for example, the New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island could be remnants of the ancient Arctida.

Discovery of Australia and Antarctica

Interestingly, even before the discovery of Australia, this continent was marked on maps. Ancient geographers recognized that a significant part of the southern hemisphere could be occupied by land. It was often designated as the Southern Land, in Latin - Terra Australis. It was thanks to this hypothesis that Europeans discovered Australia.

Oceania was first explored in the second half of the 16th century by the Portuguese and Spaniards. It is believed that the first landing on Australian lands was made by the Dutch in 1605.

Antarctica was also called the Southern Land on ancient maps. Sometimes it merged with South America, as we saw on the Piri Reis map. After the discovery of Australia, a hypothetical landmass on south pole disappeared from the maps.

Thus, on the map of the Southern Hemisphere compiled by James Cook in 1776, impassable ice is indicated instead of Antarctica. At the same time, Cook did not deny that land exists in that place: “ I will not deny that there may be a continent or significant land near the pole. On the contrary, I am convinced that such a land exists, and it is possible that we have seen part of it».

Antarctica was discovered only in 1820 by Russian navigators Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. And the first to set foot on the icy continent were members of the crew of the American ship Cecilia in 1821.