Maps of human history

A History of the World in Twelve Maps by Jerry Brotton. Allen Lane, €37.80. Reviewed by Brendan Daly.

Gerardus Mercator and Jodocus Hondius in Mercator's Posthumous Atlas from 1613.
Gerardus Mercator and Jodocus Hondius in Mercator's Posthumous Atlas from 1613.

A History of the World in Twelve Maps by Jerry Brotton

**Allen Lane, €37.80**

**Reviewed by Brendan Daly**

.....

When we type our home address into Google Earth we're expressing an impulse that dates back millenniums.

Like the Mesopotamian scribe who created the first known map of the world - a 2,500 year-old clay tablet that locates Babylon at its heart - we want ...