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Cartography, it sounds like a funny word for something fancy, but in reality, it is the study and practice of making maps. Cartographers combine science, aesthetics and technique to communicate spatial relativity. Now that sounds all very complicated, but it really just means that they take the world and draw it out visually and accurately.

Cartography is extremely interesting because it is steeped in history. So here are some neat facts and information that you might not have known about the realm of map making.

People have been trying to document land and the surrounding geography since the beginning of time. Having a map or visual representation of where things are is very helpful when trying to travel, find food, set up shelter, or collect water. Some of the earliest maps of the world were created by the Babylonians in the 9th Century BCE. The first world map is credited to Martin Waldseemuller in 1507 which included a map of the U.S., or America, before it was settled.

The first maps were created on parchment with brushes and ink, which left room for error but it also allowed Cartographers to be creative and artistic. Once printing was invented, map making became much more precise and allowed more people to be able to read or have access to the maps.

Some cartographers even play “practical jokes” by adding things to their maps which are not actually there. For example, in the 1970s, Richard Ciacci added a fictitious mountain, Mount Richard, to the Rocky Mountains and the map ended up as the Boulder County map of Colorado.

The art of map making is fascinating and although may seem out of date with the cutting edge technology of today, is very relevant to history.

As the speed of invention — and of life itself — gets faster and faster, people are becoming more and more focused on the future. They want to know where they are going and what’s coming next. They forget about the importance of understanding where they have been and how to avoid the mistakes and errors of the past. A solid foundation of history, both American and world, is essential in order to be able to understand the implications of the future.

Cartography is both a subject of historical study and a tool for putting all of history in context. Taking a collection of maps over several centuries can show how the art of map making changed. A map of europe will indicate when cartographers stopped using Latin terms and switched to local languages. It will also show differences in the organization of legends, scale, and the colors and symbols used for various features. By looking at the how and why of changes in cartography, students get a sense of the political, religious, and social changes they represent.

On the other hand, it is possible to think of the map as a tool in historical study. A world map is a snapshot of the political climate of a given moment. A map from 1970 is going to have different borders and country names than a map from 1995 or 2010. Some of these changes will be political, as wars, treaties, and other actions move borders. However, some changes are geological. Earthquakes, erosion, volcanic eruptions and other natural occurrences affect natural borders, ocean depths, and other physical features.

Since the 2010 Olympic Games ended, I’ve found that my interest in going to Canada has been revived by all the beautiful backdrops in the pictures. I’ve been looking up various things such as the top 10 things to do in Canada now that the Olympics are over , and as a result my research naturally triggered me to take an interest in the history of the Olympics.

I knew (probably from elementary school) that the Olympic Games started in ancient times, but I didn’t know how ancient — apparently the first recorded Olympics were in 776 BCE. That’s amazing! We even know the name of the first guy ever recorded to have won anything — a foot race, in this case, and his name was Coroebus.

What is even more amazing to me is that the Games continued to be held every four years for more than 1,000 years. That’s a long time in the ancient world, when you figure that they didn’t have radio, TV, or mass media — only fairly rudimentary means of record keeping.

Interestingly, it was Christianity that brought about the end of the ancient Olympic Games, in a manner of speaking. They were ended in 393 CE because the current Roman Emperor, who was a Christian, objected to the pagan roots of the Games. (The games were supposedly created by Hercules , or Heracles as he was known by the Greeks.) It wasn’t until the late 19th century that there was serious talk about reinstating them, and even then it took time and serious dedication on the part of a Frenchman by the name of Pierre de Coubertin.

What’s really funny is what may have inspired him to get the Olympic games going again: the defeat of his country’s military forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Whether or not France losing the war had anything to do with his opinions (Coubertin would have been only 7 years old), he definitely thought that physical exercise was needed as part of a complete education.

But anyway, I think it’s worth remembering, when the Olympics come round every couple of years, how old the tradition really is. Just think, if it weren’t for Coubertin, we might not have ever revived the Games!