World History II

Unit 4: Interactions Across the Globe

Chapter 17: The Renaisance, New Sciences, and Religious Wars in Europe

9: Wed, Oct 2, 2024

Please post in the forum for the day a short essay in response to this question:

Starting with the resources below (if you find others, please cite your sources), consider the following points:

• Who is making maps between 1450 and 1650? How are they distributed? Who is using them?
• How do the map-makers get their information? How reliable is it? Do they add fictional features?
• How does a map-maker determine the location of a particular place on the globe (latitude and longitude)?
• How accurate are the maps of Europe, Asia, and Africa? (Compare several of the maps shown in the sources with a modern map.)
• How accurate are the maps of the Americas? (Compare several of the maps shown in the sources with a modern map.)
• What political or economic agendas might influence how the continents are portrayed?
• How does the projection (relative locations between the actual location on a globe and the representation in two dimensions) influence perceptions for the viewer?

Resources:

https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/lewisclark/intro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cartography (read sections 12.1-12.4)

https://press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V3_Pt1/HOC_VOLUME3_Part1_chapter30.pdf

https://www.nrm.org/2013/05/maps-as-propaganda-in-the-age-of-exploration-by-stacey-dugan-montebello/

What questions do you have about map-making, or how these maps affected the perceptions of the Europeans for whom they were made?

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