Did maps exist in the middle ages?

Answer 1

AnswerThe tools cartographers use today are much more advanced than those which the people in the middle ages had, so they were not able to measure nor create maps as easily as we can today. Also, back then, a lot of the world had not yet been explored, leaving vast expanses of area either empty or made up on their maps. People back then also were much more superstitious, and do not have te scientific knowledge that we do tofay... Hence the sea mosters and serpents on the maps. Also, you may note that there are many other mythological creatures on their maps, tHe products of their fear of unexplored orbwild seas. Another thing that is notable on middle ages maps is the number of landmasses that we know today that remain partial or unfinished on the maps. If the land had not been circumnavigated there was no possible way for them to know what it looked like in it's entireity. AnswerNot all maps of the Middle Ages were very inaccurate.

There were several different kinds of maps of the Middle Ages, but one specific kind, called a portolan chart, was intended for mariners and was fairly accurate.

These maps have been studied because the technology used to produce them was greater than any for which we have any record from the time. The technology of the portolan maps was finally exceeded in the 18th century, but did not exist in the late 16th or 17th, and there has been much speculation about what it might have been, and when it was used.

The problem for mapmakers of the time was that while it was fairly easy to find latitude, how far north or south of the equator you were, there was no easy way to find longitude, position on the east-west axis. In the northern hemisphere latitude could be found just by measuring the angle between the horizon and the north star. But for longitude, the method used was to try to find the time of day of a astronomical event, as seen from different places. For example, we might try to have observers in Madrid and Mexico City observe the occultation of a moon of Jupiter from, measure the times at which it happened, and compare. Clocks being what they were, and observers being what they were, the distance from Madrid to Mexico City was off by 1400 miles.

What was required was a really good clock, so mariners could keep track of times of noon, and compare these with a standard time at a particular place, for instance at Greenwich. Once they could do this, they could know, within a couple of miles, where they were. And so they could draw accurate maps. This is the technology that developed in the 18th century. But the portolan charts showed something analogous had existed during or before the Middle Ages.

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Answer 2

There were crude maps made by stars, or men drawing semi accurate drawing of their landscape.