Portal:Maps

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The Maps and Cartography Portal

World map by Gerard van Schagen, Amsterdam, 1689

A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes.

Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although most commonly used to depict geography, maps may represent any space, real or fictional, without regard to context or scale, such as in brain mapping, DNA mapping, or computer network topology mapping. The space being mapped may be two dimensional, such as the surface of the Earth, three dimensional, such as the interior of the Earth, or even more abstract spaces of any dimension, such as arise in modeling phenomena having many independent variables.

Although the earliest maps known are of the heavens, geographic maps of territory have a very long tradition and exist from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the medieval Latin: Mappa mundi, wherein mappa meant 'napkin' or 'cloth' and mundi 'the world'. Thus, "map" became a shortened term referring to a two-dimensional representation of the surface of the world. (Full article...)

Cartography (/kɑːrˈtɒɡrəfi/; from Ancient Greek: χάρτης chartēs, 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and γράφειν graphein, 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively. (Full article...)

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Medieval Islamic geography and cartography refer to the study of geography and cartography in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age (variously dated between the 8th century and 16th century). Muslim scholars made advances to the map-making traditions of earlier cultures, particularly the Hellenistic geographers Ptolemy and Marinus of Tyre, combined with what explorers and merchants learned in their travels across the Old World (Afro-Eurasia). Islamic geography had three major fields: exploration and navigation, physical geography, and cartography and mathematical geography. Islamic geography reached its apex with Muhammad al-Idrisi in the 12th century. (Full article...)
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Map of the world by Henricus Martellus Germanus, preserved in the British Library
Henricus Martellus Germanus (fl. 1480-1496) was a German cartographer active in Florence between 1480 and 1496. His surviving cartographic work includes manuscripts of Ptolemy's Geographia, manuscripts of Insularium illustratum (a descriptive atlas of island maps), and two world maps which were the first to show a passage around the southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean. His world maps summarize geographical knowledge at the outset of the Age of Discovery and "epitomize the best of European cartography at the end of the fifteenth century." (Full article...)

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Whole world
Whole world
Credit: NASA
Composite satellite image of the whole world in a plate carrée projection, a very simple map projection that has been in use since the earliest days of spherical cartography. The name is from the French for "flat and square". It is a special case of the equidistant cylindrical projection in which the horizontal coordinate is the longitude and the vertical coordinate is the latitude.

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Map examples

World

Standard time zones
Standard time zones
Credit: CIA World Factbook, Trounce
Standard time zones of the world as of 2005.

Historical

Carte d'Amérique, 1774
Carte d'Amérique, 1774
Credit: Guillaume Delisle
Carte d'Amérique, 1774.

Thematic

Tornado Alley
Tornado Alley
Credit: FEMA
Intense tornado activity in the United States. The darker-colored areas denote the area commonly referred to as Tornado Alley.

Geographic

Geographic features of China
Geographic features of China
Credit: Alanmak
Main geographic features and regions of China.

Political

The Aztec Empire before the Spanish conquest
The Aztec Empire before the Spanish conquest
Credit: Madman2001
The Aztec Empire as it stood shortly before the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Nautical

The Arctic region border
The Arctic region border
Credit: CIA World Factbook
A map of the Arctic, the red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border.

Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
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Things you can do

Things you can do

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Atlases and maps of the world at Wikimedia Commons

Extended content
Wikimedia Commons includes the Wikimedia Atlas of the World.


Entries available in the atlas


General pages
commons:Atlascommons:Historical atlas - Index of the Atlas - Names in native languages


The world and its continents and oceans
General maps of the world - Historical maps of the world - Old maps - Africa - North and South America - Antarctica - Asia - Europe (History, European Union) - Oceania - Oceans


Historical era and themes
Prehistory - Antiquity - Middle Ages - Age of Renaissance - Early Modern Age - 20th Century - Early Asian Societies - Rise of Islam - Early American Societies - Colonialism - World War I - World War II


Countries with undisputed status
Afghanistan - Albania - Algeria - Andorra - Angola - Antigua and Barbuda - Argentina - Armenia - Australia - Austria - Azerbaijan - Bahamas - Bahrain - Bangladesh - Barbados - Belarus - Belgium - Belize - Benin - Bhutan - Bolivia - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Botswana - Brazil - Brunei - Bulgaria - Burkina Faso - Burundi - Cambodia - Cameroon - Canada - Cape Verde - Central African Republic - Chad - Chile - China - Colombia - Comoros - Democratic Republic of the Congo - Republic of the Congo - Costa Rica - Côte d'Ivoire - Croatia - Cuba - Cyprus - Czech Republic - Denmark - Djibouti - Dominica - Dominican Republic - East Timor - Ecuador - Egypt - El Salvador - Equatorial Guinea - Eritrea - Estonia - Eswatini - Ethiopia - Fiji - Finland - France - Gabon - The Gambia - Georgia - Germany - Ghana - Greece - Grenada - Guatemala - Guinea - Guinea-Bissau - Guyana - Haiti - Honduras - Hungary - Iceland - India - Indonesia - Iran - Iraq - Ireland - Israel - Italy - Jamaica - Japan - Jordan - Kazakhstan - Kenya - Kiribati - North Korea - South Korea - Kuwait - Kyrgyzstan - Laos - Latvia - Lebanon - Lesotho - Liberia - Libya - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - North Macedonia - Madagascar - Malawi - Malaysia - Maldives - Mali - Malta - Marshall Islands - Mauritania - Mauritius - Mexico - Federated States of Micronesia - Moldova - Monaco - Mongolia - Montenegro - Morocco - Mozambique - Myanmar - Namibia - Nauru - Nepal - The Netherlands - New Zealand - Nicaragua - Niger - Nigeria - Norway - Oman - Pakistan - Palau - Panama - Papua New Guinea - Paraguay - Peru - Philippines - Poland - Portugal - Qatar - Romania - Russia - Rwanda - Saint Kitts and Nevis - Saint Lucia - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Samoa - San Marino - São Tomé and Príncipe - Saudi Arabia - Senegal - Serbia - Seychelles - Sierra Leone - Singapore - Slovakia - Slovenia - Solomon Islands - Somalia - South Africa - Spain - Sri Lanka - Sudan - Suriname - Sweden - Switzerland - Syria - Tajikistan - Tanzania - Thailand - Togo - Tonga - Trinidad and Tobago - Tunisia - Turkey - Turkmenistan - Tuvalu - Uganda - Ukraine - United Arab Emirates - United Kingdom - United States - Uruguay - Uzbekistan - Vanuatu - Vatican City - Venezuela - Vietnam - Yemen - Zambia - Zimbabwe


Countries with disputed status
Abkhazia - Artsakh - Republic of China / Taiwan - Kosovo - Northern Cyprus - Palestine - Somaliland - South Ossetia - Tamil Eelam - Transnistria - Western Sahara


Dependencies and other overseas territories
Akrotiri and Dhekelia - Åland- American Samoa- Anguilla - Aruba - Ascension Island - Ashmore and Cartier Islands - Baker Island- Bermuda - Bouvet Island - British Indian Ocean Territory - British Virgin Islands - Cayman Islands - Christmas Island - Clipperton Island - Cocos (Keeling) Islands - Cook Islands - Coral Sea Islands - Falkland Islands - Faroe Islands - French Guiana - French Polynesia - French Southern and Antarctic Lands - Gibraltar - Greenland - Guadeloupe - Guam - Guantanamo Bay - Guernsey - Heard Island and McDonald Islands - Hong Kong - Howland Island - Isle of Man - Jan Mayen - Jarvis Island - Jersey - Johnston Atoll - Kingman Reef - Macau - Martinique - Mayotte - Midway Atoll - Montserrat - Navassa Island - Netherlands Antilles - New Caledonia - Niue - Norfolk Island - Northern Mariana Islands - Palmyra Atoll - Pitcairn Islands - Puerto Rico - Réunion - Saint Helena - Saint-Barthélemy - Saint Martin (French) - Saint-Pierre and Miquelon - South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands - Svalbard - Tokelau - Tristan da Cunha - Turks and Caicos Islands - United States Virgin Islands - Wake Island - Wallis and Futuna


Disputed areas
Kashmir - Paracel Islands - Spratly Islands


Subnational autonomous entities
Aceh - Adjara - Adygea - Altai - Andalusia - Aosta Valley - Athos - Azores - Balearic Islands - Bashkortostan - Basque Country - Bougainville - Brussels - Buryatia - Canary Islands - Catalonia - Chechnya - Chuvashia - Corsica - Crimea - Curaçao - Dagestan - Easter Island - England - Bosnia and Herzegovina (Federation) - Flanders - Friuli-Venezia Giulia - Gagauzia - Galicia - Galápagos Islands - Gorno-Badakhshan - Guangxi - Ingushetia - Inner Mongolia - Kabardino-Balkaria - Kalmykia - Karachay-Cherkessia - Karakalpakstan - Karelia - Khakassia - Komi - Kurdistan (Iraqi) - Madeira - Mari El - Mordovia - Mindanao - Nakhchivan - Navarre - Nevis - Ningxia -North Ossetuia-Alania - Northern Ireland - Quebec - Saint Martin (Dutch) - Sakha - Sardinia - Scotland - Sicily - Srpska - Tatarstan - Tibet - Trentino-Alto Adige - Tuva - Udmurtia - Vojvodina - Wales - Wallonia - Xinjiang - Zanzibar


Former countries
Austria-Hungary - Byzantine Empire - Caliphate - Czechoslovakia - Frankish Empire - Inca Empire - Macedonian Empire - Roman Empire - Soviet Union - Yugoslavia


Themes
International organizations - Languages - Religions


Old atlas
Stielers Handatlas 1891

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