Of course, in his attempts at field investigation, the

Of course, in his attempts at field investigation, the historian is at the
disadvantage that the countryside has changed in many respects since
the period which he is studying. He is not permitted to use H.G. Wells‘s
time machine, to enable him to see it as it actually was. Inevitably he is
concerned in the main, if not exclusively, with literary and other
materials, which have survived from that stretch of the past which
interests him.
Old maps may be plans of cities, charts of sea coasts and estuaries,
cartularies of landed estates, or topographic delineations of land areas.
These clearly engage the interest of historians and geographers alike, and
they call for a combination of the methods and viewpoints of each. Maps
can be conceived of and considered in several quite different ways, being
properly regarded, and so assessed, as works of art—at best as objects of
colour, skill, form, and beauty. They may alternatively be regarded purely
for their cartographic aesthetic.
The main queries which then arise are the following: how is it that the
map-maker has carried out his task and with skill of what echelon and
with what degree of success has he done so? Such an inquiry falls to the
specialist field of historical cartography. An antiquarian map may also be
approached in a means akin to that of the student who conceives it as a
font contemporaneous with the time of its production. Thus, the historical
cartographer may seek to bring grist to his mill and to consider the map‘s
reliability as a satisfactory source of empirical evidence. By such means
also the regional historian, in his search for essentials about such past
matters as the availability of roads, the extent of enclosed farmland, or
the number and location of mines and quarries, is no less an interested
party.
The value of old maps as documents useful for historicity depends
necessarily on to what degree they depict and on how accurately. For
virtually all periods of pre-modern history some maps have survived to
serve as historiography, depicting, however imperfectly, certain features
of past geography. The work of Claudius Ptolemy—who lived in the 2nd
century A.D.—for centuries provided the basis for maps of the known
world and its major regions. Although many were drawn on the scientific
basis which he provided, they nevertheless embodied many errors—of
location, distance, and the shape of areas of land and sea.
The medieval portolan charts of the Mediterranean Sea and the later
charts which provided sailing directions, produced in Holland, were
accurate enough to be useful in practical navigation. Plans of important
cities of Europe, so well-drawn as to yield evidence of their earlier form
and extent, are notably offered in Braun and Hogenberg‘s Civitates Orbis
Terrarum, published at Cologne and, in England, in John Speed‘s plans of
cities. Similarly, John Ogilby‘s Britannia, Volume the First, appearing in
1675, gives detailed information of England's road system as it existed
nearly three centuries ago. However, few of the early maps approach
modern standards, which require accurate representation of distances
and of heights above mean sea-level and the use of carefully
distinguished symbols. This is because it was not until the 18th century
that cartography, as an exact science, was born.


1. According to the passage, which of the following statements is/are NOT true?
I. Most maps produced before the 18th century are not as accurate as
maps produced after the 18th century.
II. The maps of Claudius Ptolemy were not used as a model by later mapmakers.
III. Historians have generally been uninterested in using maps as a tool to
learn about the past.
A. II only
B. III only
C. I and II
D. II and III
E. I, II and III

Source:- RC99