The Daily Mail has put together a fascinating list of ten maps which changed the world. [Thx Tron]

3. CHINESE GLOBE, 1623

Made for the Chinese Emperor, this is the earliest known Chinese terrestrial globe, and a fusion of East and Western cultures.

Its creators are thought to be the Jesuit missionaries Manuel Dias (1574-1659), who introduced the telescope to China, and Nicolo Longobardi (1565-1655), superior general of the China mission.

Both were respected scholars, and the globe’s depiction of the coasts of Africa and Europe would have contrasted with traditional Chinese maps.

These exaggerated the size of China and placed it in the middle of a world that otherwise consisted mainly of small offshore islands.

In its treatment of eclipses and meridians and its information about magnetic inclination, however, the globe draws on ideas that were developed in China far earlier than in the West.

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Check out this wonderful map showing the course of the Mississippi river over millennia.

Harold N. Fisk’s 1944 monumental tome on nature at its most mundane and sublime is, amazingly, available online and free. Landscape architects in every specialty have much to glean from it, not the least of which are water engineering techniques, ecological and geological processes, graphic representation, and the ideological and philosophical implications of reconstructing the Mississippi River.

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Google Earth has implemented a new layer which shows how WWII bombing raids affected various cities.

Many of us have heard stories, read books and watched films which show the many impacts of WWII across the world. Today we’re giving you another way to understand this period in time – by exploring a new set of historical aerial images, taken over European cities during World War II, via the historical imagery feature in Google Earth. They can now be compared directly to images from the present day.

The historical imagery feature gives people a unique perspective on the events of the past using today’s latest mapping technology. We hope that this World War II imagery will enable all of us to understand our shared history in a new way and to learn more about the impact of the war on the development of our cities.

Images taken in 1943 show the effect of wartime bombing on more than 35 European towns and cities. Imagery for Warsaw, which was heavily destroyed at the time, is available from both years 1935 and 1945. They remind us all of the devastating impact of war on the people in those cities and also the remarkable way in which urban environments are reconstructed and regenerated over time.

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A 17th century road map of England, which shows all 73 roads the country had at the time, is set to hit the auction block.

The 17th Century work by John Ogilby – ‘Britannia Volume the First, or an Illustration of the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales’, was hailed at the time as a “landmark” in road -mapping.

A first edition, dating from 1675, contains 100 double pages of black and white maps laid out in continuous strips depicting 73 major roads and cross-roads across England and Wales, although most of them are routes in and out of of London.

The work also represents the first time in England when an atlas was prepared on a uniform scale, at one inch to a mile, based on the statute of 1,760 yards to the mile.

Free.edu has posted an interesting list showcasing 20 fascinating ancient maps and why they are cool.

Modern and Completely Correct Map of the Entire World
Creator: Joan Blaeu
Date: 1659
Why it’s cool: Modern at the time, yes. Completely correct, not so much. The map reveals the limitations of knowledge regarding the west coast of North America, the Arctic, and New Holland (present-day Australia).