Mapping the stars
The earliest maps were not of Earth but of the heavens. Around 16,000 BC, illustrations of the night sky were discovered on the walls of the Lascaux caves in southern France. Drawings of constellations have also been discovered in the Cueva di El Castillo cave in Spain, dating back to 12,000 BC.

The earliest surviving map of earth was created in the 7,000 BC in Anatolia (modern Turkey). This map is also the first ever plan view - drawn from a bird's eye view - and since then virtually all maps have followed this template.

The Babylonians: striving for accuracy
Archaeologists believe the ancient Babylonians, who lived in what is now Iraq, were the first people to attempt an accurate survey of the land in map form. In 1930 a single clay tablet dating back to at least 2,500 BC was discovered and appeared to depict a river valley between hills on which attempts had clearly been made to accurately measure size and distance between features.

The Babylonians are also credited with creating the earliest surviving map of the world. Created around 600 BC, this map is more symbolic than accurate; it omits references to other neighbouring tribes such as the Persians and Egyptians, even though both were known to the Babylonians.

Fact from fiction
The first significant influences on early mapmaking were not explorers but the works of great Greek writers Homer and Hesiod.

Although neither actually made maps, they both wrote epic poetry describing the world as the Greeks knew it. Homer's classic poems Iliad and the Odyssey showcased an advanced geographical awareness which was later used by Anaximander and Hecataeus, early mapmakers from the Ionian city of Miletus.