<P> Satellite image of Earth at night </P> <P> Early world maps cover depictions of the world from the Iron Age to the Age of Discovery and the emergence of modern geography during the early modern period . Old maps provide much information about what was known in times past, as well as the philosophy and cultural basis of the map, which were often much different from modern cartography . Maps are one means by which scientists distribute their ideas and pass them on to future generations . </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> Hypothetical reconstruction of the world map of Anaximander (610--546 BC) </P> </Li> <Li> <P> World map according to Posidonius (150--130 BC), drawn in 1628 . </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Ideal reconstruction of medieval T - and - O maps (from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1895) (Asia shown on the right) </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Tabula Rogeriana world map by Muhammad al - Idrisi in 1154 . Note that north is to the bottom </P> </Li> <Li> <P> World map in Octant projection (1514). From Leonardo da Vinci's Windsor papers . </P> </Li> <Li> <P> World map by Gerardus Mercator (1569), first map in the well known Mercator projection . </P> </Li> <Li> <P> 1652 world map by Claes Janszoon Visscher </P> </Li> <Li> <P> A historical map of the world by Gerard van Schagen, 1689 </P> </Li> </Ul> <Li> <P> Hypothetical reconstruction of the world map of Anaximander (610--546 BC) </P> </Li>

The map shows agricultural information known about the world by