Editing Map (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of cartography}}
[[File:Engraving on a mammoth tusk, map, Gravettian, 076872x.jpg|thumb|Possibly the oldest surviving map was engraved on this mammoth tusk, dated to 25,000 BC, found in Pavlov in the [[Czech Republic]]<ref name="Tusk1">{{cite journal|url = http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_2_2/Wolodchenko_Forner.pdf|access-date = 24 January 2015|first1 = Alexander|last1 = Wolodtschenko|first2 = Thomas|last2 = Forner|journal = E-perimetron|volume = 2|number = 2|date = Spring 2007|issn=1790-3769|title = Prehistoric and Early Historic Maps in Europe: Conception of Cd-Atlas |pages=114–116}}</ref>]]
[[File:Tabula Rogeriana 1929 copy by Konrad Miller.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|{{Lang|la|[[Tabula Rogeriana]]}}, one of the most advanced [[early world maps]], by [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]], 1154]]

Maps have been one of the most important human inventions for millennia, allowing humans to explain and navigate their way through the world. The earliest surviving maps include [[cave painting]]s and etchings on tusk and stone. Later came extensive maps produced in ancient [[Babylon]], [[Greece]] and [[Rome]], [[China]], and [[India]]. In their simplest forms, maps are two-dimensional constructs. Since the [[Classical Greece|Classical Greek period]], however, maps also have been projected onto [[globe]]s. The [[Mercator Projection]], developed by Flemish geographer [[Gerardus Mercator]], was widely used as the standard for two-dimensional world maps until the late 20th century, when more accurate projections were more widely used. Mercator also was the first to use and popularize the concept of the [[atlas]]: a collection of maps.