3870 entries. Last updated May 17, 2013.

Cartography / Geography / Voyages / Travels Timeline Outline

  • Eras
  • Themes

2,500,000 BCE – 8,000 BCE

Stone tools found on Crete dating back over 130,000 years suggest that prehistoric civilizations took to the sea much earlier than previously thought. (view larger)
The Earliest Evidence of Sea Voyages
(Circa 130,000 BCE)

Perhaps the Oldest Map in the World
(10,000 BCE)

8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

A wallpainting, located in Catal Hoyuk, that might be the earliest landscape painting yet discovered, or a map. (View Larger)
A Wallpainting that Could be a Landscape or a Map
(Circa 6,200 BCE)

Pavlopetri: the Oldest Submerged Town Site
(2,800 BCE)

One of the Oldest, Largest & Best Preserved Vessels from Antiquity
(Circa 2,500 BCE)

<p>Photo of wharf at low tide, Wadi al-Jarf</p>
The World's Oldest Harbor
(Circa 2,500 BCE)

1,000 BCE – 300 BCE

The Oldest Map Clearly Marked with Distances
(343 BCE – 313 BCE)

300 BCE – 30 CE

A Taoist text preserved on silk and discovered in Mawangui in 1973.
The Mawangui Silk Texts
(Circa 175 BCE)

30 CE – 500 CE

Ptolemy
At Alexandria Ptolemy Writes the Almagest, the Cosmographia, and the Tetrabiblos
(Circa 100 CE – 178 CE)

A reconstruction of a portion of the Forma Urbis Romae, showing a section of the Theater of Pompey. (View Larger)
The Forma Urbis Romae
(203 CE – 211 CE)

800 – 900

Cosmas Indicopleustes's map of the earth, from Topographia Christiana. (View Larger)
An Early Flat-Earth View of the World
(Circa 850)

Codex Heidelbergensis 398: the single document, edited by Sigismund Gelenius, that recounts the periplus of Hanno. (View Larger)
The Periplus of Hanno the Navigator
(Circa 850 – 950)

1000 – 1100

<p>The reconstructions of three Norse buildings are the focal point of this archaeological site, the earliest known European settlement in the New World. The archaeological remains at the site were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.</p>
The First Conclusive Proof that Norsemen Reached North America
(Circa 1000)

A T-O design from Lambert's Liber Floridus. (View Larger)
A Medieval Encyclopedia, of which the Autograph Manuscript Survived
(Circa 1090 – 1125)

1100 – 1200

An Illuminated Medieval Travel Guide and Music Compendium
(Circa 1150)

1200 – 1300

The First Record of a Chinese Printed Seal in Europe
(1245)

Rome and its vicinity, as depicted on a reproduction the Tabula Peutingeriana. (View Full Map - Very Large)
The Tabula Peutingeriana
(Circa 1250)

A map illustrating both the first and second Polo expeditions. (View Larger)
The Travels of Niccolo and Maffeo Polo
(1266)

A map of the Polos' eastward journey, begun in 1271. (View Larger)
Carrying the Pope's Response to Kublai Khan
(1271)

Folio 54r from a facsimile of 'Le divisament dou monde,' preserved at the University of Graz, in Germany. (View Larger)
The Lure and Romance of Travel to the East
(1298 – 1299)

1300 – 1400

The Hereford Mappa Mundi. (View Larger)
The Hereford Mappa Mundi, "The Greatest Extant Thirteenth Century Pictorial…
(Circa 1300)

A reproduction of Tabula Rogeriana. (View Larger)
The Most Accurate World Map for Three Centuries
(Circa 1300)

The Oldest Surviving Road Map of Great Britain and the First Map to Depict a Recognizably Accurate Picture of Britain's Coastline
(Circa 1360)

One of the Most Beautiful Medieval Atlases
(1375)

A portion of the Dun Ming Hun Yi Tu, or The Great Amalgamated Map, showing the African continent. (View Larger)
The Oldest Map of Africa
(Circa 1390)

1400 – 1450

The De Virga world map. (View Larger
Medieval Mappa Mundi, Stolen during an Auction
(1411 – 1419)

Page 145b of A Mariner's Knowledge, by Michael of Rhodes, depicting a completed galley ship.
The Earliest Known Treatise on Shipbuilding
(1434)

The First Historical Geography
(1448 – 1458)

1450 – 1500

The Fra Mauro map, created by the monk around 1450, is oriented with the South at the top, and depicts Asia, Africa, and Europe. The artistry is exceptionally detailed, and quite acurate for its time. (View Larger)
"The Greatest Memorial of Medieval Cartography"
(Circa 1450)

The Only Formal Roman Treatise on Geography
(September 25, 1471)

The First Map Included in a Printed Book
(November 19, 1472)

The First Printed Edition of the First Geography Contains No Maps
(September 13, 1475)

The First Book with Engraved Maps
(1477)

The First World Map to Show the Results of the Age of Discovery
(1482)

The First Illustrated Travel Book: An International Bestseller
(February 11, 1486)

Departure of Columbus for the New World & the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain
(July 30 – October 12, 1492)

The First Eyewitness Report to Become a Bestseller
(February 15, 1493)

The Nuremberg Chronicle
(June 12 – December 23, 1493)

Probably the Earliest European Depiction of Native Americans
(1494)

1500 – 1550

A portion of the last surviving copy of the Waldseemüller map, made by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller in 1507, was the first published map to include the name 'America.' (View Larger)
The First Map to Name America: The Waldseemuller Wall Map and the Waldseemuller…
(April 1507)

1550 – 1600

The First Published Reference to Cave Art
(1575)

1600 – 1650

The First European-Style World Map in Chinese and the First Chinese Map to Show the Americas
(1602)

The First World Map Showing Isogonic Lines
(1602 – 1604)

The Pilgrims Land at Plymouth in New England
(1620)

The Earliest Known Graph of Statistical Data
(1644)

The First Extensive Moon Atlas
(1647)

1650 – 1700

The First Map Engraved and Published in New England
(1677)

The First Independently Published Bibliography of Mathematics
(1688)

The First Map of All of New Spain
(1691 – 1694)

1700 – 1750

The First Bibliography of Americana
(1713)

The First Illustrated Book Printed by Muslims
(1729)

1750 – 1800

The First Biographical Timeline Chart
(1765)

The Most Influential Historical Timeline of the Eighteenth Century
(1769 – 1770)

The First Textbook on Zoogeography
(1777)

The First National Geological Atlas
(1780)

The First Map of the United States Printed in the United States
(1784)

The First Road Atlas of the United States
(1789 – 1792)

Probably the First Printing Presses in Africa since 1519
(1798 – 1799)

1800 – 1850

Bowditch's "New American Practical Navigator"
(1802)

The First Catalogue of the Library of Congress
(April 1802 – October 1803)

The First World Atlas Printed by Muslims
(April 1803 – March 1804)

The Meter (Metre) is Calculated Scientifically
(1806 – 1821)

Invention of "Illuminated Printing"
(1838 – 1840)

1850 – 1875

Possibly the Best Statistical Graphic Ever Drawn
(November 20, 1869)

Calling for a Central Bibliographical Bureau Which Would Also Store Images
(July 25 – November 29, 1872)

Traveler's Cheques
(1874)

The First National Thematic Atlas
(1874)

1875 – 1900

The First Comprehensive Global Study of Zoogeography, Including the first Global Biodiversity Map
(1876 – December 2012)

1960 – 1970

The First Human to Travel into Space and the First to Orbit the Earth
(April 12, 1961)

The Smallest Published Edition of the Bible, and the First to Reach the Moon
(1966)

Bertin's Semiology of Graphics
(1967 – 1983)

The First Manned Apollo Flights Occur
(December 24, 1968)

Problem with the Apollo 11 Guidance Computer Nearly Prevents the First Moon Walk
(July 21, 1969)

1970 – 1980

One of the Most Widely Distributed Photographic Images: The Blue Marble Photograph of the Earth
(December 7, 1972)

Discovery of Citation Mapping
(1973)

1980 – 1990

The First Alphabetic PostScript Font
(1986)

The First Map of the Functioning Structure of an Entire Brain
(November 12, 1986)

1990 – 2000

The Digital Michelangelo Project
(1998)

The Bibliometrics of Science
(February 14, 1998)

2000 – 2005

Origins of Google Earth and Google Maps
(2001)

2005 – 2010

Google Earth is Launched
(2005)

Connectomes
(September 30, 2005)

Google Introduces Street View in Google Maps
(May 25, 2007 – May 12, 2008)

The Largest Atlas Ever Published as a Printed Book
(October 2008 – March 2012)

Google Earth Incorporates Historical Imagery
(February 2, 2009)

A Higher Resolution Map of Knowledge Than Can be Produced from Citation Analysis
(March 11, 2009)

The Human Connectome Project
(July 2009)

Displaying Crowdsourced Road Congestion Data on Google Maps
(August 25, 2009)

A "Significant Amount" of Water is Discovered on the Moon
(November 13, 2009)

2010 – 2011

"Atlas of Science: Visualizing What We Know"
(2010)

"Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline"
(2010)

Google Acknowledges that it Collected Wi-Fi Information Along with Cartographic and Imaging Information
(April 27 – June 10, 2010)

The 2010 Social Networking "World Map"
(August 5, 2010)

Google Earth 6: Enhanced 3D, 3D Trees, Enhanced Historical Imagery
(November 30, 2010)

The Google Earth Engine
(December 2, 2010)

3D Maps for Android Mobil Devices
(December 16, 2010)

2011 – 2013

The U. S. National Broadband Map
(February 17, 2011)

An Interactive Map of the Internet Later Produced as an iPhone App
(March 2011 – March 2013)

Google Maps 6.0 for Android Introduces Indoor Maps and a "My Location" Feature
(November 29, 2011)