This beautifully illustrated book explores the world's most celebrated historical city maps in stunning detail. Follow the history of maps and their stories, with profiles of iconic cartographers and artists showing you who created each map, how, and why.With a foreword by Professor Jeremy Black, Great City Maps gives you more than just a bird's-eye-view, telling the tales behind the cities from the hubs of ancient civilization to modern mega-cities.

This beautifully illustrated book showcases more than 60 of the greatest maps ever made, from the ancient Babylonian map carved on a stone tablet, through medieval maps such as the mappa mundi to the modern satellite images of Google Earth.Drawing upon geography, science, exploration, art, culture, and mythology, maps have existed almost as long as the human race. They do more than simply describe the landscape -they also offer a unique window into the lives and beliefs of their creators.