Mapping the World The Story of Cartography

by Riffenburgh, Beau

• ISBN13: 9780233004396
• ISBN10: 0233004394
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2015-02-03
• Publisher: Andre Deutsch

Summary

From the crude maps of ancient Babylon to the satellite-fueled precision of Google Maps, cartography has been both a record of dreams and of discoveries. Maps have played midwife to empires, helped win wars, and encouraged humanity to venture beyond boundaries of space and time. Containing numerous maps from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, Mapping the World tells the story of the philosophers, explorers, artists, and scientists who brought together their skills to produce some of the most intriguing artifacts ever created.

Author Biography

Beau Riffenburgh is an author and historian who has served as editor of Polar Record, the world’s oldest journal of polar research, and as the head of the Polar History Group at the Scott Polar Research Institute. He has written several books on exploration, including The Myth of the Explorer (Oxford Paperbacks) and Shackleton’s Forgotten Expedition: The Voyage of the Nimrod (Bloomsbury). For André Deutsch he wrote the Royal Geographical Society Exploration Experience (2007), The Titanic Experience (2008), and the Royal Geographical Society Polar Exploration Experience. A native Californian, he now lives in Wales.