How did people make maps before satellites were invented?

Answer 1

Well, they traveled the area and talked to people who lived there, etc. Think about the Louisiana Purchase. President Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore the new territory and draw maps of the area. Certainly, they did not travel every inch of the terrain, but they guessed on some, talked to the natives as to the layout of the land, etc. The maps in those days were not highly accurate. They couldn't just go to googleearth! :)

Answer 2

Come on, are you kidding me?
by surveying of course, with horses and man to take them across the desert terrains, and technical instruments that were back when water was invented in Egypt?ha ha That is one of the oldest trades around surveying of land and maps. Go to www.history.com And yes they used horses that is where horses come from the middle-east, the Dromedary is from North America, however after the break and the ice ages they did migrate. Look it up.

Answer 3

Most maps were made by professional mapmakers using the sketches and verbal descriptions provided by travellers..
The earliest known map dates from the dynasty of Sargon of Akkad about 2400 B.C.
Their biggest problem was the inability to measure longitude due to a lack of an accurate timepiece.

Answer 4

Skilled cartographers drew as they explored.

The Lewis and Clarke expedition made some relatively accurate maps of the American West.

Answer 5

I don't know, but when maps were hand-drawn, map makers would make one intentional error on every map they drew, - so that if someone copied their map, the originator could look for his error and know it was a fraud. Cool, no?

Answer 6

This was the work of explorers; especially the navigators. They used compasses and other stuff in deciding the shapes of coastlines.

It wasn't accurate at all and some drew the world upside down!

Answer 7

Terrain was measured using surverying equipment, they would make these using ropes and chains. Depth of water was measured manually using weighted lines that were dropped into the body of water. This way required lots of detail and in depth work.

Answer 8

Sailors physically sailed up and down the coastlines and drew what they saw.
Inland, surveyors took measurements and drew the mountains, rivers and land features.

Answer 9

Check out surveying in Wikipedia, pretty interesting.

Answer 10

You don't need satellites.