Why study old maps?
A map is made by people, for a purpose. A sailor, a tax officer, a priest or a king each wanted something different. So old maps are sources, like old letters. They tell us:
- what places the makers knew about,
- what they thought was important (a holy place, a trade road, a river),
- how they believed the world was arranged.
Old maps are not “wrong”. They answer other questions than the maps on our phones do. Blank or imagined places show the edge of what people knew.
(In this lesson all pictures are simple sketches with no country borders.)
From local sketches to round world maps
The earliest maps were local: fields, wells, hills and roads, drawn on clay, cloth or walls. They show what a person could walk to.
Later, scholars tried to show the whole world. A common medieval European style is the T-O map: a round ocean (the O) around three lands, divided by a T-shaped band of water. It is not for travelling. It is a diagram of how the world was thought to be organised. East is at the top. In the Latin word for east, oriens, we get the word “orient” and “to orient yourself”.
Other cultures made round or rectangular world maps with their own region near the middle. This is a worldview: the place you live feels like the centre.
Which way is up? Direction and the centre of the map
Today north is at the top because of habit. In the past it was a choice.
- Some medieval maps put east at the top.
- Some Arab and Islamic maps put south at the top.
- Many Chinese and Korean maps put south at the top, facing the king’s throne, or drew the land to fit the page.
A modern projection also has a centre. A world map centred on one ocean looks very different from one centred on another. Always check three things: the centre, the direction at the top, and the scale.
Measuring places: the grid idea
Around 150 CE, the Greek scholar Ptolemy listed places with latitude and longitude-style numbers and explained how to draw a world map on a grid. Latitude comes from the Sun’s height. Longitude was hard: it needed accurate clocks, which came much later.
The grid lets two people draw the same place at the same spot. It is the idea behind every modern map. Old grid maps still had errors, such as Earth’s size, but the method was a big step.
Reading land through belief: feng shui and traditional views
In many East Asian traditions, a good place for a village or a house was chosen by feng shui (also called geomancy; in Korea, pungsu). The rule of thumb is: hills behind, water in front, open land between. This gives shelter from cold winds, water to drink and farm, and space to live.
Old maps made for this purpose show mountain ridges as flowing lines (“veins” of the land) and rivers as the main paths of water. They are less about distance and more about shape and meaning.
Many cultures have similar ideas: Vastu in India, sacred hills, or the order of fields around a village. These are traditional views of land. We study them to understand people’s choices, not to test them as science. Today we also see that the pattern often matches common sense: shelter, water and sun.
Try it: draw your own map of your street
- Draw a map of your street from memory. Put the most important place in the centre.
- Ask a friend to draw it too. Compare: what did each of you put big? What did you leave out?
- Now turn your map so that a different direction is at the top. Does the map still make sense?
Then, in the 3D above, press “East up”, “South up” and “North up” and watch the red arrow for modern north.
Key formulas and definitions
- Key terms: worldview, T-O map, orient (east at the top), centre of the map
- Latitude = north–south number (measured from the Sun or stars). Longitude = east–west number (needs a clock)
- Old map questions: who made it, for whom, what did they know, what did they believe?
- Feng shui rule: hills behind, water in front
Worked examples
1. An old round map has Land 1 at the top and two lands at the bottom, split by water. What does the “T” of water stand for?
It is a diagram of the sea dividing three lands. It is not a travel map. The map shows how people organised the world in their minds.
2. A map has south at the top. Where is modern north on the page?
At the bottom. Rotate the map by 180° to get a modern layout with north at the top.
3. A village sits with a hill behind and a river in front. Which tradition does it match and what are two practical benefits?
It matches the feng shui / pungsu rule. Benefits: the hill shelters from cold wind, and the river gives water for drinking and farming.
Common mistakes
- Saying old maps are “wrong”. They are made for other purposes and with other knowledge.
- Assuming north is always at the top. Many old maps put east or south at the top.
- Thinking a T-O map is a travel map. It is a diagram of ideas.
- Treating a traditional view of land as a fact of science. It is a way people understood and chose places.