Ancient geography: some markers
Résumé
We highlight some landmarks in the early history of geography, with a stress on its mathematical component: establishing coordinates, measuring large distances using astronomical data, and drawing geographical maps based on various types of projections from the sphere onto the plane. We shall mention works by several mathematicians-geographers from Greek Antiquity and by the Medieval Arabs, who were the natural heirs of the Greeks. We bring out the notion of topological geographical map, in relation with Ptolemy's concept of ``chorography". We end this chapter with a few words on the Renaissance, a period where most of the oldest maps that survive were drawn.