T-O Map

Ancient Greek and Roman geographers significantly enhanced European knowledge of the world; their maps were detailed and their writings of other lands were vast and informative. The fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century and the expansion of the Church led to a diminished knowledge of the world by the common person. Knowledge of the world and sciences was limited to the academic enclaves within monasteries.

The quality of cartography declined dramatically during the middle ages. Church-sponsored cartography devolved into a simplified and stylized map of the world known as a T-O map.

At the intersection of the 'T," on the Asia side, lay Jerusalem – to the cartographers of the time, the center of the universe. The lower left sector of the map was Europe and to the right was Africa. The "T'" itself represented the large waterways of the world. The left side of the horizontal portion of the "T" were the Black and Aegean Seas. To the right was the Nile River and the Red Sea. The vertical line represented the Mediterranean Sea. The circle itself represented the oceans surrounding the continent.

This map expressed the image of the world for many people during the Middle Ages. Fortunately, we can thank the Arab geographers and librarians of the era for saving the geographic works of the Greeks and Romans and the information which helped to enhance exploration during the Renaissance. The age of exploration again advanced cartography and people's perception of the planet.

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