What is the difference between old maps and modern ones. The origin of maps, ancient maps of Russia. Perikop Tatars live on the lands of the Don Cossacks
Maps are a product that countless people have been working on for over six thousand years. Cartography appeared before writing, and the methods of drawing the earth and sea surface changed along with the entire human civilization: from the first rock paintings to digital online and offline maps containing ethnographic, economic, social information about the inhabitants.
From the first day when maps began to be used for orientation in the world, shortcomings were revealed in them: rivers changed their channels, fires destroyed forests, human settlements wandered from place to place, making it difficult to fix objects on the map. So the history of the cards is also ancient history bug fixes in an attempt to create the perfect product.
Today we will decide whether, centuries later, we managed to get closer to the canonical scheme of reflecting the world.
The oldest maps of the world
In the picture above, you see an exact copy of the original piece of mammoth tusk found in the vicinity of the city of Pavlov (Czech Republic). After many years of research, the ornament on the tusk was recognized as the oldest map known to date. Its age is estimated at 25-27 thousand years. The tusk depicts river bends, ridges, ravines of loose loess slopes, rocky peaks and a hunters' house.
Such a map, even for its creators, could not last long. It was necessary to change the drawing every time, to make new card or find a fundamentally different way to navigate the terrain.
On the left is a bronze Heavenly disc from Nebra. On the right is Murdorf's gold disk (probably a fake). Both disks contain maps of the location of celestial bodies
How to fix the image of the area, if the territory is undergoing constant transformation?
Perhaps it is worth navigating by unchanging objects - the stars. The polar star, which is part of the constellation Ursa Minor, always points north, deviating only one and a half degrees during the night (due to precession, the role of the polar star was assigned to different stars at different times). Knowing where the North Star is located, it is easy to determine the cardinal directions: when you look directly at the star, east will be on the right side, west on the left, and south on the back.
The first constellations were singled out about 16 thousand years ago and fell into various drawings of Paleolithic art. It should be borne in mind that the cartographic feature of the night sky patterns was used as a side effect. A celestial disc from Nebra (≈ 3000 BC) depicting the Sun, Moon and 32 stars was supposedly used to measure the angle between sunrise and sunset at the solstices.
Choice of perspective
Over 6,000 years ago, the first top-down maps appeared. A fresco in the ancient settlement of Chatal-Hyuk is regarded as a detailed plan of the village. The streets in the village were not marked - probably, the isolation of each house was shown with light lines.
A modern reconstruction of the map at Çatal Huyuk. The orange color indicates a presumably real-life volcano. White rectangles - houses covered with flat roofs
A copy of the "Carta Marina", made in 1949
The Carta Marina map of 1539 is notable for the fact that, perhaps for the first time, images of terrible sea creatures began to be of practical use - they correspond to currents, storm fronts, dangerous underwater rocks and shoals.
The 1565 map of Venice is in the style still used in tourist guides.
Equangular Mercator projection, thanks to which it is possible to build nautical charts on which the ship's course is depicted as a straight line
In 1569, the cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in an effort to make the world look "right" on maps, developed a new projection using mathematical formulas. With the Mercator projection, maps take on the form we are used to.
"Map of the World, placed in the head of the Fool", 1590. The map depicts the world "dressed" in the traditional surroundings of a court jester: a two-horned cap with bells and a jester's staff
Map by Claes Janson Wischer "Leo Belgicus", 1611. Leo Belgicus is the Latin name for the Dutch lion. Since 1583, the Netherlands has often been depicted as a lion. The map shows the period of the truce between Spain and the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands.
In 1675, John Ogilby depicted the roads as narrow stripes on the map, excluding all other surrounding space, leaving only the objects necessary for orientation. This ancient map has become the prototype of maps in modern car navigators.
The fashion for axonometric projection in maps was established by the French in the detailed plan of Paris, drawn up in 1734–1736. The image above shows the Louvre Palace. To assess the scale of work, open the entire city plan. Almost three hundred years later, the Chinese did something similar for the Baidu search engine.
Have you heard of the "travel map"? On such a map, you need to paint over / erase a piece of the territory that you have visited, revealing the name and full geographical information. The first such map was created in 1761 by John Spilsbury, who came up with the “sliced geographical map”. Each individual piece of the map contained some geographic information. By collecting the necessary plots, it was possible to study the entire world known at that time.
By the 19th century, map makers began to try to visualize economic, social, and political information. However, until the mass introduction digital maps in the 21st century, additional information on maps quickly became obsolete.
ultramodernity
In the 20th century, maps became incredibly detailed, first from aerial photography, then from space photography. However, satellite imagery, quickly gaining popularity, also quickly turned into a tool for creating diagrams. On the scale of the city, they are practically useless. Above the territory of forests - they are completely useless. Then projects came to the rescue, in which people began to independently mark objects inaccessible for shooting on maps.
Nowadays, cards appear that reflect the interests of a variety of people. For example, Greek researchers have developed a system that converts images of traditional paper maps into three-dimensional city plans. With the help of virtual reality gloves, a blind person can literally feel the map and read data from it (or turn on the voice engine that announces the names of the streets).
Airbnb is experimenting with creating maps whose boundaries are defined by cultural context. On the map above, traditional “tourist” accommodations are highlighted in green, Airbnb accommodations in red. Any template map advises housing in the "green" zone, however, more complete impressions of real life in the city can be gleaned from the "red" territory.
When the white spots finally disappeared, cards with added value quickly gained popularity. For example, on the map of New York, you can see the most criminal areas and areas where you can feel safe.
The second open source project in the Mail.Ru Group (after the Tarantool database) is not by chance the offline MAPS.ME maps based on OpenStreetMap data. The essence of the OSM project (like MAPS.ME) is to give every person in the world free map with which you can do whatever you want. For thousands of years of the history of cards, it was difficult to imagine such a thing, and pocket cards themselves appeared only in the 19th century. Now, instead of pockets, there is a smartphone, but at least the cards no longer need the Internet. Another difference between OSM and cartography of the past is accessibility. Anyone can make additions to a map on their own almost as easy as editing a Wikipedia article. One of the biggest updates to MAPS.ME this year was the ability to edit maps by users themselves. Thanks to this, we will be able to find shops, fountains, the best places to take a photo on the maps.
The advantages of open (in every sense) cards over commercial solutions are in their versatility. The same terrain map with a different set of data is used in a huge number of situations. With the help of OSM, forest trails and dirt roads, food distribution points in the poorest regions, forest fires ... Anything!
The flaws of the era
Comparing the maps of the past - not only from the Middle Ages, but also two thousand years ago - with modern ones, one involuntarily concludes that the maps have evolved into a utilitarian information product. The design has become much simpler, and the cards themselves, oddly enough, less detailed. Glancing over the three-meter canvas of the Renaissance, you could see dozens, if not hundreds of additional objects along your route. The smartphone offers to reflect only what reflects the UX logic of the map creators: that is, the minimum of available information per unit area.
A digital map does not need to impress with its design, because it seems to be just an add-on above the search bar - we are looking for ATMs, hotels, the shortest route, the nearest attraction. The map has become not a guide to the world, but a tool to save time. Extra information on it only consumes a person's time resource. "People's Maps" solve this issue to the best of their ability, introducing filters - while there is still an opportunity to see the city with all the variety of its objects.
What is data minimization? . This does not mean that some objects disappear from the map: you just need to zoom out. This method has both supporters (maps look clearer on a mobile device) and opponents (unfamiliar terrain needs to be scaled and searched by squares if you don’t know the exact name of the object). The map, at first glance, not overloaded with information, will only suggest the shortest route, and not the one where the most beautiful, safe, quiet path opens.
Modern maps are not made by artists / designers, not even cartographers, but by programmers. This is the requirement of the era, because if you do not adapt the card for any mobile device, simply no one will use it. The map has ceased to be a work of art, has lost the terrible monsters that swallow ships, while becoming surprisingly monotonous.
However, in comparison with ancient maps, modern ones have one significant advantage - they change very quickly. The day when the card will become completely personalized is not far off. For some, it will give details that require understanding of all the details and nuances, for others - only a compressed concentrated fact about the area.
One interesting example of the move towards "personalization" is the (open source) map of Galton's real-life walking distance, built on top of OSM. The map is named after Francis Galton, an English explorer and geographer who in 1881 compiled the Isochronic passage chart, indicating the number of days to travel from Great Britain to various places.
Fragment of a map of "quiet" areas of New York, obtained from the analysis of data on complaints about noise
What does such a card give? In addition to the obvious decision (where you can get in a certain time if you can’t walk on water and pass through walls), you can calculate the rating of a place, taking into account many parameters of objects located in the walking distance.
Sooner or later, a unified map of the world will cease to exist, because for different groups people the world will be filled with different events. Metamorphoses will not affect basic concepts, such as generally accepted borders of states or distances between cities, but a motorist, pedestrian, cyclist and bar lover will be able to find exactly what interests them in the geography of the surrounding space.
And the map will again become a source of discovery.
For our ancient ancestors, the world was often limited to the land that surrounded and fed them. But even the earliest human civilizations still tried to measure the scale of this world and made the first attempts at mapping.
The first such map is thought to have been made in Babylon over 2,500 years ago, and it shows the world beyond the Babylonian realm in the form of poisonous waters and dangerous islands where (they believed) humans could not survive.
Over time, maps gradually became larger and larger as people's knowledge of what lay beyond the Mediterranean grew. With the beginning of the era of wandering and exploration in the 15th century, the concept of seeing the world changed, the East began to appear on the maps, a huge uncharted ocean appeared in the place of America. And with the return of Columbus, the maps of the world began to take on a form that is already understandable to us, modern people.
1. The oldest known map of the world from Babylon (6th century BC). At the center of the world is the Babylonian kingdom itself. Around him is a "bitter river". The seven dots across the river are islands that cannot be reached.
2. World map of Hecateus of Miletus (5th-6th century BC). Hecataeus divides the world into three parts: Europe, Asia and Libya, located around the Mediterranean Sea. His world is a round disk surrounded by an ocean.
3. Map of the world by Posidonius (2nd century BC). This map expands on the early Greek vision of the world to include the conquests of Alexander the Great.
4. World map of Pomponius Mela (43 AD)
5. Map of the world by Ptolemy (150 AD). He was the first to add lines of latitude and longitude to the world map.
6. The Peutinger Tablet, a 4th-century Roman map showing the road network of the Roman Empire. The complete map is very long, showing the lands from Iberia to India. In the center of the world, of course, is Rome.
7. Map of the world by Cosmas Indikoplov (6th century AD). The world is shown as a flat rectangle.
8. Later Christian map in the form of a multi-colored clover leaf, compiled by Heinrich Banting (Germany, 1581). In fact, it does not describe the world, or rather, according to this map, the world is a continuation of the Christian trinity, and Jerusalem is its center.
9. Map of the world by Mahmud al-Kashgari (11th century). The world is centered around the ancient city of Balasagun, now the territory of Kyrgyzstan. This also includes places (countries) that, according to predictions, will appear by the end of the world, such as Gog and Magog.
10. Map "Book of Roger" by Al-Idrisi, compiled in 1154. It was created on the basis of information received from Arab traders who traveled all over the world. At that time it was the most accurate and extensive map of the world. Europe and Asia are already clearly visible, but from Africa so far there is only its northern part.
11. Hereford map of the world of the 14th century by one Richard of Haldingham. Jerusalem in the center, East at the top. The circle in the southern part of the map is the Garden of Eden.
12. Chinese map "Da Ming Hunyi Tu" of the late 14th century. The world through the eyes of the Chinese during the Ming Dynasty. China, of course, dominates, and the whole of Europe is squeezed into a small space in the west.
13. Genoese map, compiled in 1457 based on the descriptions of Niccolò da Conti. This is how Europeans see the world and Asia after the opening of the first trade routes to Mongolia and China.
14. Projection of the Erdapfel globe ("Earth Apple") by Martin Beheim (Germany, 1492). Erdapfel is the oldest known globe, showing the world as a sphere, but without America - instead, there is still a huge ocean.
15. Map of the world by Johann Ruysch, compiled in 1507. One of the first images of the New World.
16. Map by Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann in 1507. This was the first map to label the New World as "America". America looks like a thin strip of the east coast.
17. Map of the world by Gerard van Schagen in 1689. By this time, most of the world has already been mapped, and only small parts of America remain empty for now.
18. Samuel Dunn's 1794 map of the world. By mapping the discoveries of Captain James Cook, Dunn became the first cartographer to depict our world as accurately as possible.
In my youth, I loved board game The “Star of Africa”, the playing field in it was a map of the African continent, made in the ancient style: some monsters were depicted in the ocean, cities were also indicated by ancient buildings. Subsequently, I learned that such images were indeed applied to ancient maps. For example, a place where ships often disappeared was indicated by a drawing of an unknown animal (more often a leviathan), which should have warned the seafarers of antiquity.
ancient maps
The first map of the area that has come down to us is dated to the 7th millennium BC. e. It depicts a Neolithic village in present-day Turkey. Naturally, it is very primitive and schematic. The heyday of cartography falls on the era of the great geographical discoveries, when the map ceased to be a pleasant help, but became a necessity. Previously, maps were drawn by just one person, based on their own observations, often providing them with various drawings and notes that were not related to the issue. Therefore, their accuracy was doubtful. The leaders in the field of mapping of that time were eastern navigators.
Until now, there are disputes about the Turkish map of Piri Reis with Antarctica depicted on it 300 years before its official discovery.
Modern cartography
Nowadays, many people work on mapping, from astronauts to professional artists. Now no one draws maps alone by hand, and everyone is busy with their own business:
The main difference modern maps from the ancients is their applied significance, i.e. they do not need to stand out with some special design and beauty, the main thing in them is accuracy and ease of use.
In modern times, geographical maps are used by many people, especially schoolchildren. The distant ancient times were no exception, where there were also maps to help people navigate the areas. For example, the ancient maps of Russia of the 9th-14th centuries show which territories were occupied by certain Slavic tribes. Also, maps of Russia show where the specific principalities were located during the period of feudal fragmentation. In addition, the map of ancient Russia indicated the directions of upcoming or completed military campaigns.
Briefly about the map, the history of occurrence
Modern maps are very different from each other. Some maps introduce you to a particular area, some depict reliefs, some show the names of continents, countries, cities. In addition, there are sea charts containing information about the bottom and coastlines, about obstacles for the navigator.
It is worth noting that the cards have a long history. Archaeologists found a schematic representation of a certain area on the rocks. Studies have shown that such cards relate to the life of primitive man. Ancient maps showed streams, paths, fields - everything that interested people of that time.
Of course, there were no inscriptions, because maps began to appear long before the invention of writing. But instead of inscriptions, people used special conventional signs. Also on the cards one could see drawings of animals, people, trees.
An interesting fact from history: Already in the 19th century, scientists from Russia tried to teach the representatives of the Marshall Islands to read and write, but they did not succeed. People didn't understand how letters could convey words and sentences. But at the same time, the inhabitants of these islands were well versed in the technique of drawing maps. Such maps have been made in this area since ancient times, passing this craft from generation to generation.
What did their map look like? The dried fibers of the leaves were taken, a lattice was woven from them. Shells were placed in the right places of the lattice. If we talk about the nodal points of the grid, then these intersections told about the currents in the ocean and the winds that constantly dominated there. The shells played the role of atolls and reefs.
It is worth noting that each card of this type was kept in strict confidence. They did not take their cards into the sea so that they would not be lost there. The inhabitants of the island kept all the information in their heads, and at the same time they kept the map on the shore.
Geographic maps, their creators 
According to scientists, the first creator of the geographical map was Anaximander, the famous scientist Ancient Greece. He drew his first map in the 6th century BC. On his map, he depicted the planet as a flat circle that was surrounded on all sides by water. But the first map of Russia was called the Big Drawing. Scientists are sure that it was created in the 16th century. Unfortunately, this map, its drawings and additions did not reach us. Only an appendix has been preserved, which contained basic information about nature, roads, rivers, cities and fortifications of the state.
It is worth noting that the map of ancient Russia of the 9th century shows the borders of the state of that time, the main natural objects, and also introduces the neighbors of Russia. Also, the ancient maps of Russia are the subject of study in the lessons of geography and history, as they help to acquaint modern schoolchildren with the features of the life of their ancestors.
Video: Tartaria - the empire of the Rus (ancient maps of Russia)
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The history of the country is reflected in the maps that people began to make a long time ago. They depicted not only their state, but also their neighbors. The cards were labeled. Reading them, we learn the names of neighboring and distant countries. State borders are well traced and much more.
What is depicted on ancient Russian maps? Why are they not given in the textbooks of Russian history? And if they do, then, as a rule, these are maps of the 18th-19th centuries. Of course, there are maps in textbooks, and there are many of them, but these maps are not ancient, but made by modern artists according to historians.
Let's search authentic ancient russians cards. We are not the first to do this. They were looked for before us in the 18th century by V. N. Tatishchev. Here is what he writes about the results of his searches.
“About the beginning in Russia of geographical art or an exact description, I do not find anywhere, except that Nestor described the peoples who were before and at that time. According to him, the continuators of the chronicle remember the reigns, but everything that belongs to geography is very obscure and insufficient. Then Simon, Bishop of Suzdal, says: the great prince Konstantin the Wise described all the nations and borders, but it has not come down to us. According to him, Tsar John II (Ivan IV. - A. G.), about which in 1552 it is said that he ordered to measure the land and make a drawing of the state. However, this drawing is nowhere to be seen, except that in the Kazan archive for one Kazan possession, as I remember, it was made on 16 sheets without a scale, but signed from place to place by a mile (as we see, our ancestors understood the importance of maps, once versts put down. - A. G.). Only the book, called the Great Drawing, remained, and, I think, Macarius understands this drawing. It describes rivers, lakes, mountains and noble villages with a distance that was begun, seems to be under John the Great, and under his grandson Tsar John II and after under Tsar Alexy, it was supplemented, but under the latter much of it was damaged from dilapidation and the supplement could not correct everything, as there is no description of the Moscow river and other notables, and there are many obvious errors and prophets in it. However, although it is very necessary and useful for Russian geography, for this I explained it, supplemented it and attached the alphabetical painting.
Under Tsar Boris, a land map was made with satisfied art, and although it is not entirely serviceable, however, it shows a lot about the Eastern Tatars, which has not been found in any foreign map so far, especially Bukharia and the Aral Sea, which he calls Blue, quite decently made. Under him and during the reign of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, I found three different land maps of Siberia made by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the general Russian and several particular ones, all on one sheet of plain paper, and from the general one it is clear that someone understood the Latin language, because he put a lot of Latin words and divided by degrees. I found these land cards in Siberia with a nobleman in a book bound, as if wondrous weight, in 1739 I wanted to present to Her Imperial Majesty. Then, under Tsar Alexy, in 1664, the above-announced book Big Drawing was supplemented, nobly, for the composition of the land map (it seems that the drawing is not yet a map, but only a verbal description. - A. G.), which was created, we do not see. Witsen, the steward of Amsterdam, announced that it was carved and printed on a tree, except that, according to a test that was satisfied with me, no one appeared to see it printed, and although they say that it is in the Senate archive, only no one could find and show me " (Tatishchev, T. 1, p. 348).
Thus, in Russia they “didn’t like” geography, and if they did maps, they somehow disappeared into oblivion by themselves. And Peter the Great, so he ended up without maps of his own state. After all, the card is “wonderful things” and is found only in Siberia.
Maybe in Europe the situation with ancient maps was just as bad? Let's make a reservation, we are only interested in those ancient Western European maps that depict Russia. Here is a quote from Klyuchevsky's book, which speaks of the interest of foreigners in Russia. “Although it was known at the beginning of the 18th century that “these people are afraid to go to Russia, thinking that going there means going to the“ end of the world ”, that this country borders on the“ India ”. Meanwhile, at the same time that such ideas about Russia dominated in Western Europe, no other European country was so many times described in detail by travelers from Western Europe as distant Muscovy "" (Klyuchevsky, 1991. p. 5)
Indeed, there are many ancient descriptions and many maps about Russia and Muscovy. In Europe, books with maps of Russia and Tartaria are published with surprising regularity.
Let us list them (you can look them up on the Internet at http:// users . univer . omsk . su /~ guts / History /).
1 Mauro, Fra. Manuscript planisphere of 1460.
In particular, Russia is depicted (south - above, north - below; Tartaria in the Don region, Saray, Horde on the Volga, Gothia at the mouth of the Dnieper):
Rossia, Tartaria in Europe.
Another map from this atlas. On it is Russian Asia in 1460! Its name is Sarmatia (to the east of it - Tanguts). There is also Siberia on the map.
2. Giacamo Gastaldi. A map of Russia. Vienna, in a Latin edition of 1549.
3. Anthony Jenkenson. 1562. Russiae, Moscoviae et TartariaDescriptio.
Russia, Tartaria, including the Don region, cassac (Cossacks?) on the Irtysh (or Ob), which flows into Lake China (?)).
The information supplied on the map is based on the travels of Anthony Jenkinson who in 1557 and 1561 sought to open trade to Persia by way of northern Russia for England's Muscovy Company.Originally published in Ortelius's Atlas, this map was also included in Gerard de Jode's Speculum Orbis Terrarum.
4 Gerard Mercator 1595. Ukraine, Russia, Tartaria.
On the map, Tartaria is located on the lands of the Cossacks.
5. Isaac Massa. 1620. Russiae vulgo Moscovia, Pars Australis, Paris.
An area called Pole is highlighted above the Don River. On the map in point Z, Tartaria was here. Pole is also on the map of 1678, and the Tatars live a little higher.
From the Atlas of Johannes and Cornelius Blaeu. The figures at the bottom are dressed in furs, reflecting the contemporary interest in Russia as a fur-producing region.
6. Mercator. Russia. 1621. Avery early map of European Russia.
Tartaria on the Don, Gothia in Sweden.
7. Olearius, Adam 1669. A new map of Muscovy.
Perikop Tatars live on the lands of the Don Cossacks.
The voyages and travels of the ambassadors sent by Frederic Duke of Holstein, to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia. London, For John Starkey and Thomas Basset, 1669.
Olearius was secretary to the embassy sent out by the duke of Holstein in 1633 to explore commercial opportunities in Persia and Russia. This map portraying much of the area traversed by the embassy, showing western Russia from the Murmansk to the Black and Caspian Seas, the river systems being dominant features.
8. Coronelli, Vincenzo. 1690.
Siberia between the Volga and the Urals, Great Tartaria, Regno di Kasgak Chaizag (?)).
Atlante Veneto, nel quale si contiene la descrittione geografica, storica, sacra, profana, e politica. Venice, Domenico Padoueani, 1690. This map includes that part of Russia north of the Caspian Sea and somewhat to the east.
9. Zatta, Antoneo. 1779–85 Chinese Tartaria.
Zatta is not well known as a map publisher although his four-volume atlas contains 214 maps. They are distinguished more for their clarity and artistic quality than for originality. Two of the maps portraying Asiatic Russia including this one of Independent Tartary which was nominally a part of the Russian empire
