Question

Why do the landmasses and coastlines on the fifteenth century maps look different from those you see on a modern map? (Textbook pg. 193-195 may help!)

Answer 1

In the Age of Discovery (15th-17th centuries), European cartographers copied the old maps (some dating back many centuries) and drew their own maps based on the observations of the explorers even with new techniques. The invention of the compass and the telescope gave greater precision to the documents. These cartographers did not have the digital tools that we have in our days.