ABSTRACT
The development of cartography owes a great deal to many disciplines. The early mapmakers could not have functioned without the material provided to them by traders and travellers. Later map-makers were given encouragement and an impetus towards accuracy by the increasing military requirement for scientific maps. Early maps were concerned mainly to indicate routes and landmarks: they were visual representations of itineraries. Accuracy in indicating direction or distance was of lesser concern. Imagination played an important part in map design, and artistry was a necessary feature.
