Jean Boisseau - America noviter delineata / Historic map, Library of Congress

In the Pre-K and Kindergarten, students begin to understand the foundations of the social studies strands; history, geography, civics, citizenship, and economics. Geography Literacy: The student will demonstrate knowledge of basic physical and human geographic concepts. Explain that a map is a drawing of a place and the globe is a model of Earth. Locate the United States on a world map and a globe. Identify the state in wich Student lives on a map of the United States. Describe family customs and traditions as basic elements of culture.

Ancient Maps from the Library of Congress. 13th -18th Century Maps.

In the 17th century, maps took a huge leap forward. Mathematical and astronomical knowledge necessary to make accurate measurements had evolved. English mathematicians had perfected triangulation: navigation and surveying by right-angled triangles. Triangulation allowed navigators to set accurate courses and produced accurate land surveys. Seamen learned to correct their compasses for declination and had determined the existence of annual compass variation. Latitude determination was greatly improved with the John Davis quadrant. The measurement of distance sailed at sea was improved by another English invention, the common log. Longitudinal distance between Europe and Québec was determined by solar and lunar eclipses by the Jesuit Bressani in the 1640s and by Jean Deshayes in 1686. With accurate surveys in Europe, the grid of the modern map began to take shape.