World map

This article is about maps of the Earth. For other uses, see World map (disambiguation).

An historical map of the world by Ortelius, 1570

A world map on the Winkel tripel projection, a low-error map projection adopted by the National Geographic Society for reference maps.

A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of the Earth. World maps form a distinctive category of maps due to the problem of projection. Maps by necessity distort the presentation of the earth's surface. These distortions reach extremes in a world map. The many ways of projecting the earth reflect diverse technical and æsthetic goals for world maps.

World maps are also distinct for the global knowledge required to construct them. A meaningful map of the world could not be constructed before the European Renaissance because less than half of the earth's coastlines, let alone its interior regions, were known to any culture. New knowledge of the earth's surface has been accumulating ever since and continues to this day.

Maps of the world generally focus either on political features or on physical features. Political maps emphasize territorial boundaries and human settlement. Physical maps show geographic features such as mountains, soil type or land use. Geological maps show not only the surface, but characteristics of the underlying rock, fault lines, and subsurface structures. Choropleth maps use color hue and intensity to contrast differences between regions, such as demographic or economic statistics.

Map projections

Main articles: Map projection and List of map projections

A map is made using a map projection, which is any method of representing a globe on a plane. All projections distort distances and directions, and each projection distributes those distortions differently. Perhaps the most well known projection is the Mercator Projection, originally designed as a nautical chart.

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  Mercator projection
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  Mollweide projection
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  B. J. S. Cahill Butterfly Map, 1909, from 1919 pamphlet
• Dymaxion projection
  Dymaxion projection
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  Polar azimuthal equidistant projection
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  A south-up map
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  Pacific-centric map (more commonly used in East Asian countries and Australia)
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  A map showing the Equirectangular projection
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  A map showing the Gall stereographic projection

Thematic maps

Further information: Thematic map

A thematic map shows geographic information about one or a few focused subjects. These maps "can portray physical, social, political, cultural, economic, sociological, agricultural, or any other aspects of a city, state, region, nation, or continent".

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  Clickable world map (with climate classification)
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  Elevation map
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  A simple political map of the world as of 2011
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  Present day Earth altimetry and bathymetry (Mollweide projection)
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  Topographical map of the world
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  map of anthropogenic CO₂ emission by country
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  UN Human Development Index by country as of 2008
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  World map showing life expectancy
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  Population density (people per km²) by country, 2006
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  Volcano map
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  world map showing the continents as of 200 million years ago (Triassic period)

Historical maps

Further information: Early world maps

Early world maps cover depictions of the world from the Iron Age to the Age of Discovery and the emergence of modern geography during the early modern period. Old maps provide much information about what was known in times past, as well as the philosophy and cultural basis of the map, which were often much different from modern cartography. Maps are one means by which scientists distribute their ideas and pass them on to future generations.

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  World map according to Posidonius (150–130 BC), drawn in 1628.
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  Tabula Rogeriana world map by Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154. Note that north is to the bottom
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  1652 world map by Visscher
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  Ideal reconstruction of medieval world maps (from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1895) (Asia shown on the right)
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  An historical map of the world by Gerard van Schagen, 1689
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  Hypothetical reconstruction of the world map of Anaximander (610–546 BC)

See also

• Blank maps of the world for historical use
• Wikipedia's Clickable world map
• Continental drift
• European Digital Archive on Soil Maps of the World
• Global Map
• Globe
• International Map of the World
• List of World Map changes
• Mappa mundi
• OneGeology
• Time zone
• World Map at Lake Klejtrup

Further reading

• Edson, Evelyn (2011). The World Map, 1300–1492: The Persistence of Tradition and Transformation. JHU Press. ISBN 1421404303
• Harvey, P. D. A. (2006). The Hereford world map: medieval world maps and their context. British Library. ISBN 0712347607

External links

• Java applet to show distortion in world maps
• Java world map allowing different projections and orientations
• World maps from the CIA World Factbook
• World maps in PDF format
• GinkgoMaps—free digital world maps published under the CC-by License
• World map at WikiMapia
• Full-screen pan and zoom world map