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Rating: 
Summary: A hidden pearl
Review: It was my fascination with maps that drew me to this book. After reading Hapgood's classic, I doubted that any other book could do justice to Map making and sea-faring, in the manner dealt with by Hapgood. However, this book has put map-making, colonialism, Portugese adventurism and trade into one little fast paced book. The book is written in simple english and is extremely readable. Brotton has treated the book like a movie, and it begins with a tapestry in the amazing marriage of two countries' rulers... and then slowly travels back in time into the importance of the tapestry and the marriage. In doing so, he wonderfully charts out the importance of the voyages of the Portugese, the critical significance of maps as a means to establish ones' territorial rights, and the very fine relationship between cartographers and the rulers. This book also does the task of smashing some of the myths of Islamic empires being "barbarians", who did not invest in knowledge of the world. The book also integrates many different views and perspectives, and motives that drove the making of maps. All in all, a very interesting and complete book, a little pearl of joy for its small size, and wonderfully glossy pages, and plethora of illustrations. Read it even if you dont plan on buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read for any early map enthousiast !
Review: This book is refreshing in that it presents new or original relations between historical facts which you might be aware of, but which you come to see in a new light while reading. The reading journey brings you to early Portugese mapmakers, sailors and kings, the Ottoman empire and its relatively sophisticated geographical knowledge and how "European" mapmakers were influenced thereby in the early days of the Renaissance, to end with such wellknown cartographers as Mercator and Ortelius. The story of the Portuguese and the Spaniards that try to solve their conflicts after the Treaty of Tordesillas also (or perhaps primarily) with the help of smart map-makers has been told before, but Brotton tells it very interestingly by describing the conflict over the Moluccas. There is quite some interesting historical detail provided, also by making use of quotes from original sources, yet at the same time the broad story to be told is not forgotten. The book is digestible (about 200 pages), nicely illustrated and printed. It contains references, a bibliography for those who want some clue what to read more on some subjects, and the book has a good index.
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