From the classic Greek origins of the world map, through the elaborately decorated manuscript maps and printed maps of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries which are works of art in themselves, to modern scientific maps showing the ocean floor, Peter Whitfield examines the history of world mapmaking through 70 outstanding individual examples. He discusses each map in relation to the religious, political, social or economic climates in which they were produced and considers what these maps reveal about the perceptions of their makers.