World-Changing Historical Maps

Several maps reshaped how people saw the world. Ptolemy's Geography (about 150 CE) shaped European cartography for centuries; lost to the West during the Middle Ages, it was rediscovered around 1400 and influenced mapmaking despite serious errors. The Waldseemüller Map (1507) was the first to label the New World "America." The Mercator projection (1569) later became the standard for sea navigation, because a straight line on it marks a constant compass bearing.

The most debated is the Piri Reis map (1513), which shows the coastline of South America with surprising accuracy for its time. A popular claim says a southern landmass on it is Antarctica's coast, mapped centuries before the continent was found. Most scholars reject this: the shape is far more likely a distorted stretch of the South American coast.