How Did the First Maps Come to Be?

People started drawing maps to show where things were. Long ago, before there were roads or cities, people had to travel across land and sea. They used simple pictures of the world around them, like a river or mountain, so others could follow their path. These early maps looked more like drawings than what we see today, but they helped people remember where they were going.

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Examples

  1. A child draws a map on paper showing their house, park, and school.
  2. An ancient sailor uses a simple drawing of the sea to guide his boat across the ocean.
  3. A farmer marks the positions of trees and rivers in the field so he knows where to go next year.

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Categories: History · Maps· Ancient History· Navigation · Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.