Ptolemy's Geography and world coordinates
Geografía de Ptolomeo y coordenadas del mundo conocido
- Date
- c. 150 · confidence medium
- Place
- Alexandria, Egypt
- Credited to
- Claudius Ptolemy
- People
- 👤 Claudio Ptolomeo100–170
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
Ptolemy compiled around 8,000 locations with latitude and longitude and described cartographic projections, creating the first systematic atlas of the known world. His underestimate of the Earth's size influenced Columbus.
Place where the work was composed. The longitude errors were systematic, owing to the lack of a reliable method for measuring it.
What it led to
- Renaissance cartography after the 1406 Latin translation
- Columbus's confidence in Asia's proximity
- The modern system of geographical coordinates
Built on
- Map projection with coordinates (Ptolemy's Geography)c. 150 CE
- Eratosthenes's measurement
- Marinus of Tyre's Geography
Made possible
- Conic projection
- Atlas