The Why of Maps

A wonderful journey through the history of maps and the thinkers who shaped our world.

In ancient times, knowing the location of water, fruit trees, and the den could mean the difference between life and death. No society has been able to subsist and develop without a map, at least a mental one, of its environment. It is precisely the conversion into signs of this mental map that led to the birth of cartography.

Eduard Dalmau sets out to document the origin of maps by tracing the pioneers of cartography, whose thinking molded the world we know today. Through this account, complemented by examples of all kinds that stand out for their antiquity, rarity, and creativity – Polynesian navigation charts, Babylonian tablets, routes carved in rock – El porqué de los mapas offers us a unique opportunity to decipher the secrets of the oldest and most mysterious maps of the Earth.

Thus, what the reader holds in their hands is a piece of history that reveals how, grain by grain, stone by stone, the foundations of our civilization were laid.

“An erudite and surprising essay that reflects the progressive importance and refinement of cartographic science.”

Miguel Cano, El Cultural