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Eratosthenes is the ancient Greek geographer and mathematician associated with eventing the first system of Longitude and Latitude. He was also the first know scientist to determine the circumference of our planet. It is a facsimile of the world map (around 220 BC) that Eratosthenes created based on his estimations. The map displays the tracks of travel by Nearchus from the Indus River’s mouth (325 BC, after Alexander the Great’s journey to India) and Pytheas (300 BC) to Britannia. Location names include Hellas (Greece), Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea), Mare Caspium (Caspian Sea), Gades (Cadiz), Columnae Herculis (Gibraltar), Taprobane (Sri Lanka), Iberis (Iberian peninsula), Ierne (Ireland), and Brittania (Britain), the rivers Ister (Danube), Oxus (Amu Darya), Ganges, and Nilus (Nile), and mount systems. The map presents his birthplace in Libya (Cyrene), the Egyptian towns of Alexandria, and Syene (Aswan). Eratosthenes made his estimations of the planet’s circumference and the longitudes latitudes of several places based on his measures in stadia.
