‘Maps have changed as their purpose has changed’

Maps are designed around a need, not just around appearance. A map for pilgrimage may emphasize routes, destinations, and sacred places, while a modern digital map may help users find locations quickly. The purpose decides which information matters most.

Prshant Lahoti showed this through maps ranging from a route for a pilgrim traveling from Haridwar to Badrinath to present-day Google maps. He explained that maps changed as their purposes changed. The mapmaker’s choices shaped what users could see and use.

This idea still matters because maps remain tools, not neutral copies of reality. The article presents maps as records of what mapmakers believed or thought the world was. Today’s maps may be easier to access, but they still organize information for particular needs, just as earlier maps guided pilgrims or supported trade.

Lahoti’s talk covered seven centuries of mapmaking in a 35-minute presentation at the Kalakriti Art Gallery. That long span showed how maps changed across very different periods and needs. It connected early ideas about the world with tools people use today.

The collection included early Indian maps, including a conception of the world as the circular island Jambudvipa. It also included a map guiding a pilgrim from Haridwar to Badrinath. Lahoti then moved through Ptolemy’s world map, Portuguese mapping, and a map based on information gathered by Jan Huygen van Linschoten.

The presentation ended with current Google maps, available at the click of a button. Together, these examples showed a shift from religious guidance and collected reports to fast digital access. The talk’s range made mapmaking a history of changing purposes, technologies, and beliefs.

Early Indian maps were not presented mainly as general pictures of the entire world. Some were practical guides for religious journeys. They showed paths that pilgrims could follow while traveling to important sacred places.

Lahoti displayed a map showing the passage for a pilgrim traveling from Haridwar to the temple of Badrinath. He also began with an early Indian cosmography in which the world was understood as a circular island called Jambudvipa. These examples placed travel and religious ideas at the center of early mapping.

Their purpose shaped their content. A pilgrimage map needed to communicate a route and destination, while cosmography expressed a broader belief about the world’s form. The article connects these early uses with later maps, showing that mapping changed as people needed different kinds of guidance and knowledge.

Printing technology changed mapmaking by changing how map information could be produced and shared. The article directly links the rise of printing with changes in both the making of maps and their purpose. Maps became part of a broader flow of recorded geographic information.

Lahoti used Ptolemy’s world map as an example. It was based on descriptions of places collected in Ptolemy’s book on Geography, rather than on journeys by the mapmakers or by Ptolemy himself. Printing helped preserve and circulate such compiled knowledge in map form.

The change also affected what maps could do. They could support wider geographic understanding, trade, and the exchange of information gathered from travelers. The article does not give a detailed account of printing methods, but it makes clear that the technology transformed how maps were made and why they were produced.

Ptolemy’s world map was based on collected descriptions because it drew on written accounts of places rather than direct journeys. Lahoti said the mapmakers did not travel, and neither did Ptolemy. Their geographic picture therefore depended on information already available to them.

The key mechanism was compilation. Descriptions of various places were recorded in Ptolemy’s book on Geography, and mapmakers used that material to construct a world map. The map represented assembled reports, not a complete set of firsthand measurements.

This explains why the map could differ greatly from the world as people know it today. Its shape reflected the limits and assumptions of the information collected. The example supports Lahoti’s larger point: maps show how mapmakers believed or thought the world was, not necessarily how it physically appeared.

The Portuguese mapped the world but kept their geographic information secret. That secrecy protected knowledge that mattered to trade. Other traders could not easily use the Portuguese maps or the routes and information behind them.

The balance changed when Jan Huygen van Linschoten, described as a Dutch trader and spy, collected Portuguese information. He published a tell-all book that revealed what had been kept hidden. His book turned private geographic knowledge into information that others could access.

The article says this disclosure changed the trade history of the world. It also explains why trade was driving geography at the time. Maps were not only descriptions of places; they were valuable tools connected to movement, competition, and commerce. Revealing the Portuguese information therefore affected trade beyond the maps themselves.

A map is not simply a photograph of the world. It is an interpretation made from available information and shaped by what the mapmaker believes, knows, or needs to communicate. Its purpose determines which places, routes, and relationships receive attention.

The article gives several examples. Ptolemy’s world map used collected descriptions, while Portuguese cartographers gathered information and kept it secret. Lahoti also said cartographers did not come to India but relied on travelers’ reports and their own imagination. A pilgrim’s map likewise focused on a useful path rather than the whole world.

Modern Google maps are available instantly, but they still serve particular purposes. Across seven centuries, maps changed because users and mapmakers wanted different things from them. Studying maps therefore reveals not only geography, but also the knowledge, beliefs, technology, and practical needs behind each representation.