The surface area of planet Earth is 196,939,900 square miles, so drawing an accurate map of it is a difficult job, to say the least. Our current knowledge of Earth's geography is only possible because explorers and other travelers spent thousands of years trying to bring the picture of its features into focus. Much of this work was done by soldiers, traders, and adventurers who wandered far and wide and then came back to report what they saw.

Charlemagne, Marco Polo, and Henry the Navigator are just a few of the contributors to the modern understanding of our planet. They used and created maps to establish trade routes, build empires, and conquer distant lands.

Not all of this map-making was done in the spirit of pure exploration and natural curiosity. As their empire grew, the Romans used maps to build roads to the many distant cities they had conquered, making sure that everyone knew just how easy it would be to send in the troops if necessary. Rulers like Charlemagne created maps of the lands they had overtaken, and the explorer Marco Polo's maps were used primarily for recording trading opportunities.

(Click on the map to enlarge it.)