Antique Maps

“Everything is not as it appears….” goes a popular folk saying. It holds well in physical state as in abstract or mental state. Environment, atmosphere, Earth’s crust, landscape, path of rivers, have changed over the time. To track these changes and to better understand our eco system, we take the help of maps. The art of making/constructing maps is known as Cartography. A person who designs a map or undertakes projection of the geographical designs is known as Cartographer. A map is a pictorial depiction of the area specified. It is a scaled down version of the particular area which denotes the desired or necessary details of the area. It acts as a model for the area. Antique maps are the ones which are old more than 100 years old. These antique maps are worth thousand of dollars.

Humans’ fascination for maps can be tracked from Stone Age. Even then the humans used to mark their areas with various depictions for hunting or to mark the territories. There are antique maps few hundred years old which generally depicted the territories and the exploration maps. These maps were quite raw on the accuracy and reflected the perspective and the ideologies prevalent at the time. As in the most cases the explorers had their own country as the centre of the world or the center of the universe. The antique maps being old are in bad physical condition; hence they need to be taken care of. To re-instate or restore these antique maps is a very delicate and cumbersome job. These antique maps are generally on paper, stored in not so good condition, they tend to deteriorate. Humidity plays a huge role in fading the maps and crumbling the page or paper on which they are depicted. Hence, they can either be restored partially or at times completely but mostly these antique maps are in so bad condition they can not be retrieved and fade away in oblivion. Maps can be generalized in two broad categories i.e. Physical Map and Political Map. A physical Map is the one which describes, to the user, the geographical condition or geographical parameters or coordinates. The political maps are the ones depicting and demarcating the boundaries of territories.

Computer graphics have revolutionized the whole cartographical domain. These graphics allow the designer or the cartographer to put in more details into the map. The GIS or Geographical Information System has added another feather to cartography. Geographical Information System has changed the way we looked at the maps and have opened new avenues and scope of maps in different business areas. Now two or more areas or maps can be overlapped/super imposed on each other to give the required knowledge or detail. Geographical Information System uses vector graphics to give intricate details of the particular area. The satellites have also given inputs and helped Geographical Information System to give more in depth perspective. These maps can be converted into different formats like PDF file.

The antique maps are now studied deeply with the help of these technological advancements. These antique maps are the cynosure of a collector’s eyes. These are also used by the travelers. There is folklore among treasure hunters and fascination is attached to the old maps. The buyer or collector of antique maps requests the service of an Appraiser to evaluate the map and its age. The antique maps are not only collected by the individuals but also by the museums, libraries and various other educational institutions as well. Though now we have more complicated maps such as Google Earth , where you can trace and locate any area or explore the area to great detail on almost any place on earth. The zoom-in or zoom-out functions give intricate detail of a location. This is not the case with the antique maps which are quite raw as far as details are concerned. Antique maps or old maps gave macro details or dynamics about the area or territory and not on the micro level. The maps have been found to be used in early age, more so in the wars. These played an important role in strategizing the tactics for the war. These included mounting attacks, locating the enemy armies, course or path to the territory to be attacked, the expected terrain along the way, and possible ambush zones along the way. The commanders organized skirmishes with the help of these maps. These older maps are revered as most valuable antique maps, by the collectors.

Nowadays, the maps are used in diverse fields such as tracking the wild life in the forests, helping in conserving the most extinct species. The most avid user of the maps is the metrological department of any country. Since the inception of satellites and Geographical Information System they can now study the weather patterns more precisely and predict the weather conditions more accurately. These are also used in tracing natural resources like minerals and oil and gas fields under the ocean bed. The help of maps are now been used even in the cities by using GPS global positioning systems in the vehicles wherein the system guides the user or the driver of the vehicle towards the destination. The use of the maps is essential in aeronautical domain, where the coordinates are to be synchronized and the path thus chalked be followed to reach a destination and avoid miscalculation. The oldest map on record is the Imago Mundi which is more than two thousand years old and almost 2600 years old. Imago Mundi is estimated to be from 6th century before Christ. Navigation maps used by the sailors were the mainstay for the evolvement of the map of countries, continents and oceans or water bodies. These navigational maps helped people understand the shape of earth which was earlier considered as flat. These maps were the basis on which the philosophers in the courts of kings, based their studies of geography.