The Mapmaker's Art

By taking a historical perspective, Goss is able to show how such important cartographers as Ptolemy, Mercator, Ortelius, and Jefferys artistically reflected the geographical learning of their own times, how the advent of printing increased the availability of accurate maps, and how the exploratory and expansionist activities of the western European nations expanded the functions of maps, which came to be used to delineate the boundaries of national and local government, mark trade routes and safe shipping lanes, and indicate sites of natural resources for development by new settlers. In addition to the European tradition, Goss also surveys the town plans of Imperial China, the star maps of 10th-century Arab astronomers, and the marine stick charts of the Pacific Islanders. Some of the more artistic flights of fancy, evident in elaborate allegorical figures and maps of mythical lands, are discussed in a chapter of their own.