Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection

by Mark Monmonier

In Rhumb Lines and Map Wars, Mark Monmonier offers an insightful, richly illustrated account of the controversies surrounding Flemish cartographer Gerard Mercator's legacy. He takes us back to 1569, when Mercator announced a clever method of portraying the earth on a flat surface, creating the first projection to take into account the earth's roundness. As Monmonier shows, mariners benefited most from Mercator's projection, which allowed for...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226534316
• ISBN13: 9780226534312
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.3"