How did people draw maps before when sattelites were not yet invented?

Question

I was wondering how people knew how large or small or how many islands were in each continent before. Nowadays, they use sattelites of course. But even before these sattelites were invented, the people still can draw maps of their country, and even the whole world which they thought was square! So, how did they know? Did they sail around the islands? Did they just use their imagination? How?

Answer 1

They travelled across the land, measuring and mapping bit by bit as they went along.

Answer 2

airplane table mapping tied to triangulations of a baseline. utilising pins, chain and compass an prolonged line is heavily measured between 2 factors seen to a minimum of one yet another; the tops of two hills say. A airplane table is desperate over the 1st factor (Station A). a factor on one factor of a paper is marked to characterize Sta A. A ruler (an alidade) is desperate on the internet site and sighted alongside to the 2d factor (Station B) to be marked on the different factor of the paper. this would be a base line of generally happening length on the floor and on the internet site. this would now be converted right into a scale. next, different sighting are made from Sta A: church steeples, chimneys, climate vanes, peaks, tree topping towers built for the purpose… What ever is available to the activity and surely describable and relocatable. A line is scribed on the internet site radiating type the factor representing Sta A to the objective. The airplane table is then moved to Sta B and set up so as that the baseline would be sighted alongside to Sta A. returned the objectives sighted till now are sighted alongside the guideline and a 2d line is scribed to the objective radiating from Sta B. the guy factors the place each pair of lines go marks the direction and scale distance to all of the objectives. the size can now be used to calculate the particularly distance between any 2 factors in the section mapped. between the suggested, distant factors mapped will then be chosen as Sta C. The airplane table can then be set up over that factor and the exercising began over on a neighboring triangle on 2d order baselines , CA and CB. And returned, and returned, and returned… From one end of India to the different. Finer scale maps can then be drawn utilising the great scale map to discover each to the others. Edit: For a Brunton (Geo WP) i'm going to be there too. i'm bringing chocolate milk and beef jerky.

Answer 3

They took measurements with the boats and estimated size. They also used the stars to find out their place on an existing map, and to chart new ones and estimate size. Their maps were not very accurate (as they are today), but they did help travelers somewhat.

Answer 4

george washington ,the father of our country became fairly wealthy by surveying land and boundary disputes with a teodolite and a transit telescope!! the early geometers used means as primitive as string,straight edge and compass;but these all led the extrapolations and theorems which became geometry!!this was a lost science after the fall of rome and was kept codied and studied and expanded upon by by the arabic peoples viaa the greek store house of papyruses at alexandria,the pharos library and the caliphates that followed in time in egypt and arabia!!these arab traders and adventurers made up-dated maps and charts and dispersed them widely amongst the faithful!!jews of north africa in texts from carthage and phoenicia added to the amalgam and the information reached spain and potugal!!of particular interest are the projections and studies initiated by prince henry the navigator and his dedicated scholars and teachers in their translation of texts and their explorations around africa and all of the way to asia using geometric measurement and guidance!!in egypt an ancient greek geographer used the shadow of an obelisk in a well to estimate the earth's diameter and circumference with very accurate results utilizing the pythygorean theorem and circumferential calculations !!

Answer 5

the could only really chart hte things that they had seen,so yea, sailing around to document the different continents, and if you ever get a chance to see one of those maps, you will also find, that for the most part, they look like something a retarded monkey drew while looking at a picture of the wolrd... so yea.

Answer 6

I am from North.
I know stories from before, There was an old woman, who
died not long ago and she was telling about whiteman,
who came to their camp, during winter. she was about 5
or 6 years old, this was in 1906. he was walking, the Baffin
Island. There is a book somewhere, he wrote about.

Answer 7

Through the surveying of land

Answer 8

Cartography: they used observation and math. Check out the source for formulas, types of cartography,and more than you wanted to know!

Answer 9

they used the stars as a point of reference with a compass