To ask how far back mapping goes is to ask who was the first person to draw a diagram in the dust with a stick. Any attempt to schematically depict a geographic area can be considered a map, whether the purpose is to give someone directions or to define a territory. The Babylonians made maps on clay tablets as early as 2300 b.c., and the Egyptians may have had maps by 1300 b.c. It is known that diverse cultures such as Inuits and Polynesians made crude maps. Greek maps were the first to take into account a round earth and to use longitude and latitude lines. The philosopher Anaximander of Miletus (c. 611-546 b.c.) observed the revolution of the stars around the North Star and proposed that celestial objects are spheres. The historian Hecataeus (c. 550-476 b.c.) applied Anaximander's idea to his map of the earth...