25 Most Significant Inventions In Human History

Humanity has been able to understand the world in immensely greater detail thanks to map making. The ability to draw landmarks and determine a better understanding of one’s surrounding environment has been essential to human adaptation.

Using maps has allowed for our ancestors navigate more easily without getting lost, the construction of settlements near critical landmarks or natural resources, and easier human travel from one place to another. It has also played a critical role in military strategy, as many notable military conquests could not have taken place if conquerors didn’t take the land they were entering into account.

Moreover, entire industries and services wouldn’t have been able to blossom without maps. In a more recent age, GPS technology has proven to be a similar breakthrough. Whereas maps provided readers with a more detailed understanding of where they are, GPS has allowed for modern technology to track their current location with considerable accuracy. Given how easy it is to get lost on this vast planet, this technology is critical for contemporary travel, and has been instrumental in helping people find their way home.

Today, humans rely on maps more than ever, as the need for one’s natural sense of direction is giving way to real-time maps that show the smoothest traffic routes and the simplest way to get from point A to point B. Had humans never drawn the first maps, there’s no way we’d understand the world in the way we do now.