Dilshukhnagar Public

School-Badangpet
Online classes for grade 8
Instructions before starting class
Do not switch off your videos
Name yourself with your grade and section
Be punctual and attend classes on time
Keep a book and pen to note down the important
points or running notes
LS 1 Reading and Analysing of maps
What is a map ?
Answer : A diagrammatic representation of an area of
land or sea showing physical features, cities, roads, etc.

Uses of maps: Maps are used by geographers to locate

something important about a place . For example
distribution of rainfall , population , soil types ,
languages spoken by people , crops grown , markets ,
schools etc.
Maps are also used by cartographers ( map makers) to
show many features like individual houses , tree etc.

Why do people make many kinds of maps ?

Answer : A photo may or may not be able to show how
much it rains at a place , or how hot it gets there , or
what language do people speak at the place , but a map
shows all this information . So people make different
kinds of maps according to their purpose.
Maps in the old times.

The Sumerians

Some of the maps were made by Sumerians ( present day

Iraq ) about four thousand years ago . These were
imprinted on clay tablets . The Sumerian temples were
very large and they had to keep an accounts of the
income form the lands that is why they tried to keep
records of lands wit the help of maps.
The Babylonians

The Babylonians ( also the present day

Iraq ) .They imagined the world as a round disk . The
inner circle had all the cities ( the small circles )
villages rivers marshes and mountains they knew
about . The city of Babylon was shown in the middle
and beyond the inner circle was the Bitter river or salt
water ocean in which there were seven triangular
oceans.
World map in the old times

Greek geographers like Anaximander and Hecataeus

of Miletus ( now in Turkey ) and Herodotus also
prepared world maps by locating places from East to
West and North to South .
In the previous map Greece was placed in the middle of
the map . The map is divided into three continenets .
Europe , Libya ( Africa ) and Asia all of which are
seperated by the Mediterranean sea . After the Greeks
the Romans showed interest in making maps and
knowing places near and far away from them . They had
plans of conquering the whole world and eshtablishing
colonies all over the world . You might have heard of
king Alexander who wanted to conquer the whole world
and came to India 2300 ago in which maps played a
crucial role.