Enter the  Main Exhibit Here Lessons Index: 1. MAP AND CHART 2. CHARTING THE GREAT WINDS 3. RIDING THE WIND 4. THE MAP CARTOUCHE 5. THE GULF STREAM 6. CHART MAKING FOR NAVIGATORS 7. HURRICANES 8. PROFILES 9. CHARTING NEPTUNE’S REALM 10. SURFACE CURRENTS 11. DENSITY CURRENTS 12. CURRENT AND CLIMATE 13. HUMAN INTERACTION 14. DEFINING THE EARTH 15. LATITUDE 16. LONGITUDE 17. COMPASS DEVIATION Osher Map Library University of Southern Maine

Charting Neptune's Realm: From Classical Mythology to Satellite Imagery An exhibition at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine, Portland, 4 April 2000 to 11 January 2001 Donald S. Johnson, guest curator Lesson 13e - Materials Required HUMAN INTERACTION Osher Map Library Lesson Charting Neptune's Realm Gary Spring A. Learning Objectives B. Background Information C. Teacher Activities D. Materials Required E. Presentation of Lesson (Item) (Activity) (Time/Total Time) 1. Opening Statement: (1 min/1 min) Knowing where you are is important. We use maps and our own knowledge to navigate our area, around the state, and across our country. If we get lost we can always look for a sign or ask someone. If we are really lost all we have to do is stand still until someone finds us. At sea this is not true. If you are lost you could die of hunger or thirst. Today someone might come looking for you, but one hundred years or more ago, there was no one to do that. The people who were looking were probably pirates, and you really did not want them to find you. Today we are going to look at some early maps to determine what they knew and when they knew it. Many of the maps are highly detailed, but their accuracy leaves something to the imagination. In fact, one of the things you can say about early map-makers was their flirtation with the imaginary. 2. Anticipatory Set (Brainstorm Questions) (10 min/11 min)           a. Secret information           b. Use of secret information           c. Who gets the information? How is it safeguarded? 3. Exhibition (Show transparencies as required) (20 min/31 min)           a. Development of information           b. Graphic representation of information           c. Map detail vs. map accuracy           d. Knowing the information is wrong and changing it 4. Closing Discussion: (11 min/42 min)           a. What information was valuable           b. How does knowing the information change the way we interact with the environment? 5. Review main points and clarify student questions (2 min/44 min) 6. Closing Statement (1 min/45 min) It is no longer possible to sail between the continental United States and the Island of California as it was three hundred years ago, or was at least possible according to some of the charts we have just seen. Consider how important it was to know that the Gulf of California was a gulf and not a straight. Consider the way a treaty might have been written if you were the only one who knew the truth. The information was as important then as it would be now. Return to Lesson 13 Index Return to Charting Neptune's Realm index of lessons Return to Osher Map Library's complete list of lessons on the web