Inventing Geography

andVisualizing the World

Aswan

Eratosthenes (c. 276 BCE – c. 195 BCE)

Alexandria

Aswan

Alexandria

Aswan

Alexandria

0°7°12’

Aswan

Alexandria

1/50 of a Circle (360°)

Eratosthenes’s calculation:

Alexandria to Aswan = 1/50 of the diameter of EarthAlexandria to Aswan = 5,000 stadia (c. 490 miles)50 x 490 = 24,500 miles

Actual circumference = 24,901 miles

Eratosthenes coins the word “geography”

Claudius Ptolemy, 85-165 CE

• Refined Eratosthenes’ calculations.• Reduced the circumference of Earth.• Produced the first real map of the

world.• Introduced the concept of map grids to

plot location.

Chapter 8

• Understand– The Gupta Empire in the “Classical Age”– The reform of Hinduism– Indian Buddhism – “The Global Trade of Indian Pepper”– Family life and gender.

Chapter 9

• Understand:– How the Chinese balanced the ideas of • Confucius • Legalism• Daoism

– The achievements of Cheng, the “First Emperor”– The achievements of the Han dynasty– Buddhism in China

The world in the reigns of Antoninus Pius (138-161)Vologases IV (147-191)Vāsishka (140-160)Huan Di (146-168)