Western cartography starts with the revival of knowledge of Claudius Ptolemy"s Geographia soon after the year 1400 AD. Greek manuscript copies made in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, were brought by scholars to Italy from Constantinople and subsequently translated into Latin and widely studied. Ptolemy lived in the 2nd century AD in Egypt. He divided the world in 360 degrees and introduced a method to establish meridians and parallels and projected the round shape of the world on a flat surface. Geographers and astronomers were influenced by his work for about 1500 years. Nothing of his original work remains and...
studied. Ptolemy lived in the 2nd century AD in Egypt. He divided the world in 360 degrees and introduced a method to establish meridians and parallels and projected the round shape of the world on a flat surface. Geographers and astronomers were influenced by his work for about 1500 years. Nothing of his original work remains and we can only see his maps by the diligent work of monks who copied his works and probably made their own small contributions and interpretations as well. The coincidental invention of Gutenberg, the art of printing, made large numbers of copies possible.