Do you know where you are? You are no doubt aware of who and what is immediately next to you. You may also be able to peer further, to a street name, a river or a skyscraper looming above rooftops. Chances are, then, that you could find your location on a map. Without maps, our mental picture of our place in the world would be utterly different. Before printed maps became widespread, humans had a much narrower idea of their true surroundings, based instead on memory or verbal descriptions.
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