The ancient people had a very accurate idea of the size and shape of the Earth. They represented it in strange ways, imagining it was shaped like a flat disc surrounded by mysterious seas and oceans.

At one time it took a great deal of patient, detailed work to draw the map of a region. Today, cartography, as the art of map drawing is called, is done very rapidly and with great accuracy.

Maps are now drawn by computers which can read photographs of regions taken from the air. All that is required is an airplane with a special camera on board to fly over the area to be charted and to take a series of photographs as it moves through the air. A greater number of maps are now produced than ever before, giving more diverse and accurate information.