In Medieval Europe, the geographical maps are mainly found in manuscripts of Latin writers or in theological scripts. Their aim was to represent the lands and the seas according to the Scripture or incorporating religious themes and references into them.
Nautical charts
Between the XIII and XIV century, the first specimen of Nautical Charts appear in Italy.
They reproduced a coastal line together with a dense nomenclature of harbours, dockings and points of interest concerning the navigation (such as rocks, small islands, shallows..)
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Mercator (1512-1594).
Gerardus Mercator's world map of 1569 introduced a cylindrical map projection that became the standard map projection known as the Mercator projection. It was a large planisphere measuring 202 by 124 cm, printed in eighteen separate sheets. While the linear scale is constant in all directions around any point, thus preserving the angles and the shapes of small objects (which makes the projection conformal), the Mercator projection distorts the size and shape of large objects, as the scale increases from the Equator to the poles, where it becomes infinite. The title (Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigatium Emendate: "new and augmented description of Earth corrected for the use of navigation") and the map legend show that the map was expressly conceived for the use of maritime navigation.
Peters' world map
Arno Peters, a German historian, presented a map in 1973 . as a superior alternative to the Mercator projection, The Mercator projection increasingly inflates the sizes of regions according to their distance from the equator: Northern countries appear wider compared to those close to the Equator.Peters World map is conceived to maintain the real proportions of the continent surface through the world factorization in 100 horizontal and 100 vertical parts forming a grid which replaces the traditional grid made from meridians and parallels. The surface of the lands in each quadrant is proportional with respect to that one of all other.
Arno Peters World map combines the qualities of Mercators map and the real surfaces of the globe.
