The History of Cartography

Therefore, Mesopotamia is a civilization because it made major contributions in the fields of Writing and Science, it had people beginning to specialize in occupations and it had a state religion. First of all, Mesopotamia can be considered a civilization because of the contributions it made in the fields of Writing and Science. One of its most important contribution, was the development of one of the first systems of writing. With the increase of farming and trade, the people of Mesopotamia developed a way of keeping records and communicating through cuneiform script. Cuneiform began as a series of pictograms pressed onto clay tablets but soon these pictograms turned into more abstract symbols.

Without the fundaments discovered in Ancient Mesopotamia, our society would not be as well developed in the field of mathematics, which would in turn affect the progress of various fields of science and construction. Conclusion The impact of Mesopotamian inventions on the modern world can be clearly seen through the influence their technology had on subsequent civilizations. Each invention was revolutionary, and became even more so after being further studied by civilizations like Egypt and Greece. After thousands of years of progress, these inventions are not only still used, but have become necessities. Despite being one of the first civilizations to emerge, Ancient Mesopotamia and its technology had a profound impact on the rest of the world.

Cartography has existed for thousands of years. From the early days of tribes marking off where their best hunting grounds are, to the modern day of mapping flight paths, cartography has evolved and developed in various ways to what it is today. There are now technologies that allow for people to design maps in ways never imagined before. Computer programmes exist that allow for different types of data to be stored so that accurate representations can be formed. It has been said that, “Maps are pictures of the world’s land surface, showing its features, resources and the way it has been developed.” (Bondi, et al., 1977) Origins and History The beginnings of Cartography It has been said that Cartography originated thousands of years ago.

Creating A Writing Technology In reading Tribble and Trubeks’ “Writing Materials” I learned that writing is a product of historical circumstances and cultural values as well as of individual invention.(2). The reading selections enabled me to realize just how much I and many others take modern technology for granted. In the book writing itself is defined as technology, which threw me off very early in this assignment. I’d previously only thought of technology as something that uses electricity or some type of battery. I do understand that writing has been in many ways perfected by technologies such as the typewriter and computer but writing itself as a technology still seems to be a bit beyond me.

Over thousands of years, maps have developed from two-dimensional cave art depicting the constellations to Christian-centered “T and O” maps depicting Jerusalem at the center of the map, to sophisticated three-dimensional views of earth. According to James S. Aber, a professor of Geology at Emporia State University, the first known maps were made in approximately 2300 B.C. on clay tablets. As time passed philosophers developed more knowledge about Earth, and by the time that Claudius Ptolemaeus, or "Ptolemy," was born people understood the concept of a spherical earth rather than a flat earth. Ptolemy’s map “depicted the Old World from about 60°N to 30°S latitudes”(James S.Aber).

Some of the very first engineering projects were simply based on trial and error. Imaginative and creative individuals with good technical skills would try and design and put things together, making some truly brilliant inventions the first phase of modern engineering emerged in the Scientific Revolution. With Galileo Galilei's two new sciences, which seeks syst... ... middle of paper ... ...ld of robotics. Robotics has become an important area of study due to the fact that more and more processes are getting automated these days. Mechanical engineers are handed the task of manufacturing assembly lines of robots for different operations and controlling them through pre-written programs to make the process of manufacture less human dependent, and more efficient and economical.

Therefore, history is very important. According to David Hume: History is not only a valuable part of knowledge, but opens the door to many other parts, and affords materials to most of the sciences. And indeed, if we consider the shortness of human life, and our limited knowledge, even of what passes in our own time, we must be sensible that we should be forever children in understanding, were it not for this invention, which extends our experience to all past ages, and to the most distant nations; making them contribute as much to our improvement in wisdom, as if they had actually lain under our observation. A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century. Knowledge of historical civilization indeed is very important.

During Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1799, a stone known as the “Rosetta Stone “ was discovered which helped decipher the hieroglyphs. The Rosetta Stone was an irregularly-shaped slab of black basalt that was discovered near a little town that was known as the “Rosetta.” The stone had a text recorded in three different scripts which were hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek. The texts were written from right to left. Many scholars were able to understand the Greek and Demotic text, but they struggled to understand the hieroglyphic part of the text. A Frenchman named Jean –Francois Champollion was the first person to decipher the hieroglyphic part of the text in 1822.

That is why post-British colonialism is important to today, because it is a new topic to discuss and argue. And along with this trend, comes the new age view on reading and interpreting history. Postmodernism is very new outlook on history and one that grows with every generation. It is that study of more than just events or great people; it is the study of the common people through their social, economic and political advantages. It’s the study of the common man through his diary, emails, letters, newspaper columns etc...British colonialism has only seen this method because of the majority of people who use it.

The Sumerians were one of the first developing civilizations in the world, and could be found living between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the area we now know as Iraq. Their system of writing was made up of wedge shaped marks that were formed using the edge of a stylus being pressed into the clay. The clay was then heated so the imprints could not be destroyed and could be used later. “Cuneiform” is a Greek word meaning “wedge-shaped.” By the 2nd century AD, the script had disappeared and all knowledge on how to read it lost until people began to decipher it in the 19th century, with successful completion of this in the 1850’s. It is estimated that up to two million cuneiform tab... ... middle of paper ... ... letters came into use during the Middle Ages, with the popularity of cursive writing.