0:00:04 > 0:00:06August 2007: A nuclear-powered
0:00:06 > 0:00:11Russian icebreaker cuts its way through the Arctic Ocean.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14On board a mini submarine.
0:00:14 > 0:00:21It's about to dive two and a half miles to the seabed.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24There the Russians will plant a titanium flag, directly beneath
0:00:24 > 0:00:29the North Pole to symbolise Moscow's claims to the Arctic.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36But Russia isn't alone. The United States,
0:00:36 > 0:00:44Canada, Denmark and Norway are all staking similar claims.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49As the polar ice melts, it's becoming much easier to gain
0:00:49 > 0:00:54access to the gas, oil and minerals beneath the seabed.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56The scramble is on to claim the right to exploit them.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06And the first ever political map of the Arctic is being drawn up to identify the disputed territories.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16I've been studying maps for most of my life and this is
0:01:16 > 0:01:19the most intriguing attempt I've seen to map the future.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23This is an extraordinary map.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27What this map shows is all these different countries
0:01:27 > 0:01:29looming up on to the North Pole...
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Russia, USA,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Canada, Greenland,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Scandinavian countries.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Laying claim to different bits of the Pole.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45All these different colours show competing political and economic interests.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49Map-making has always been bound up with politics.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54From attempts to map the known world in the middle ages,
0:01:57 > 0:02:01to the age of exploration and discovery,
0:02:04 > 0:02:08to Imperial Britain's claim to be the centre of the world.
0:02:08 > 0:02:09And now the new 'Arctic Map'
0:02:09 > 0:02:17brings together geography, economics and international law in an attempt
0:02:17 > 0:02:22to settle the latest territorial dispute.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Map-makers are now at the heart of a really-charged struggle
0:02:25 > 0:02:28around political influence and access to riches.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30But it's not for the first time.
0:02:30 > 0:02:36Because the history of maps is also the history of power, plunder and possession.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Palermo Cathedral.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59Christmas Day, in the year 1130.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05A Norman warrior is crowned Roger II, King of Sicily...
0:03:08 > 0:03:12One of the wealthiest and most influential kingdoms in Europe.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Roger's Kingdom was composed of a rather volatile mix of Christians, Greeks and Muslims.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26And Roger wanted to stamp his authority across all of them.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28But not just through brute force.
0:03:28 > 0:03:34He commissioned a team of scholars dedicated to the mapping of the culture and territories of
0:03:34 > 0:03:37the entire Mediterranean region and the world beyond it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:46Roger entrusted the making of the map to the foremost Muslim scholar of the day, Muhammad Al-Idrisi.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53Over 15 years Idrisi gathered travellers' accounts of distant
0:03:53 > 0:03:58lands and the latest information about trade, transport and political power in each territory.
0:04:01 > 0:04:07He then began work on a series of regional maps covering the whole of the known world.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10The maps stretch all the way from China in the east
0:04:10 > 0:04:13to Spain in the west.
0:04:16 > 0:04:22In an accompanying text, Spain is described in great detail as a land of "fine estates",
0:04:22 > 0:04:26defended by "well-fortified castles".
0:04:26 > 0:04:29To the north...
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Britain is located in the "sea of darkness"
0:04:31 > 0:04:37and described as being the "shape of an ostrich head".
0:04:37 > 0:04:43Its inhabitants are said to be "brave, active and enterprising,
0:04:43 > 0:04:47"but all is in the grip of perpetual winter."
0:04:47 > 0:04:52The western Mediterranean is dominated by Roger's Kingdom.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Sicily's size is exaggerated.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Idrisi calls it "the pearl of the age".
0:05:04 > 0:05:08The maps were bound together with the text describing the regions the world
0:05:08 > 0:05:12and became known as The Book of Roger.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20This is the book that Roger asked him to write...
0:05:20 > 0:05:23To put in all the information
0:05:23 > 0:05:28that he had assembled about the inhabited world in his day.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33And it consists of 70 - seven zero, maps
0:05:33 > 0:05:40each accompanied by several pages of texts telling you about the cities.
0:05:40 > 0:05:46How you get from one city to the next, how long it takes you, discussions of harbours.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51A great deal about commodities, resources.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The Book of Roger is full of vivid geographical detail.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59But Idrisi's maps clearly aren't the result of a scientific survey.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05What we see here is North Africa.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07This is the Mediterranean.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Look at this coast!
0:06:09 > 0:06:12That is anything but accurate.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16It's just a wavy line with the cities just lined up on them.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18So what he's actually giving you
0:06:18 > 0:06:22is the sequence of the harbours, probably along here.
0:06:22 > 0:06:29So the text is necessary for any kind of detail. Text and map are integral.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Extremely clever, innovative.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37- Simple but brilliant.- Yes.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41'While Idrisi was working on his maps, Roger was still expanding his kingdom.
0:06:41 > 0:06:47'Gaining strategic footholds in Greece and North Africa.'
0:06:47 > 0:06:51What do you think that Roger is trying to do with Idrisi?
0:06:51 > 0:06:54He's trying to get as much information out of him as possible
0:06:54 > 0:06:57about all of the areas of the world that Roger didn't rule.
0:06:57 > 0:07:04So that the... Not only was Idrisi commissioned to draw a map,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08but he was commissioned to find out everything he could about trade
0:07:08 > 0:07:12and travel and distances between cities, fortresses.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17All the sorts of things that someone wishing to conquer an area would need to know.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22Roger, of course, had political designs himself, on Spain.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26He dreamed of possibly conquering Spain, possibly North Africa.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30So the knowledge that Idrisi had would have been very useful to Roger.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41From his island kingdom in the middle of the Mediterranean, Roger was playing for high stakes
0:07:41 > 0:07:43in international politics.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46He'd realised that maps weren't just about the quest for knowledge.
0:07:46 > 0:07:53And he appreciated that you could now use maps to put his tiny kingdom onto a much larger world stage.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04Roger's map of the known world was being used to describe and celebrate his expanding Empire.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09But maps would later become much more powerful tools of conquest.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17The great leap forward came at the turn of the 15th century with
0:08:17 > 0:08:23the translation into Latin of a rediscovered classical work called simply, The Geography.
0:08:25 > 0:08:31Its author was a Greek scholar called Claudius Ptolemy, also known as the "father of geography".
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Working in the great library of Alexandria in Egypt
0:08:35 > 0:08:39in the 2nd century, Ptolemy built up a vast knowledge of the world.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48This is Bosham. Now a tiny village on the Sussex coast, it was once
0:08:48 > 0:08:54a bustling port on the edge of the Roman Empire, called Magnus Portus.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59And Ptolemy managed to plot its position in his Geography 2,000 years ago.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Someone has to come here. Someone has to do lots of observations.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08Observing the stars, observing the sun.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Then it has to get back to Ptolemy
0:09:12 > 0:09:16and then Ptolemy has to do the geometry.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18He has to do the mathematics,
0:09:18 > 0:09:25to work out what the correct latitude and longitude should be, given what the traveller has reported.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29So one line in this is a huge amount of work.
0:09:31 > 0:09:36Ptolemy's system of mapping was inspired by his knowledge of astronomy.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41He'd devised a grid of intersecting lines to map the position
0:09:41 > 0:09:46of the stars and then transferred this web-like grid to the globe.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Ptolemy used astronomy, geometry and mathematics
0:09:58 > 0:10:03to plot the positions of 8,000 places in the known world.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10He's sitting in Alexandria and he's actually marking Magnus Portus.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Bosham here... thousands of miles away.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16He's like the spider sitting in the middle of the web, pulling it all in, isn't he?
0:10:20 > 0:10:24It's a purely geometrical principle and that's the genius of what Ptolemy does.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27He puts that across the Earth,
0:10:27 > 0:10:33he allows us to understand where every location is in relation to every other location
0:10:33 > 0:10:35and it's a fantastic enduring principle,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39which takes us right through to the modern age of map making.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44Ptolemy was tackling the greatest challenge of map-making - finding a
0:10:44 > 0:10:48way to represent the spherical shape of the Earth on a flat surface.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52As you can see a globe doesn't look very flat, does it?
0:10:52 > 0:10:57And the question is whether you could actually take the surface of a sphere and flatten it out.
0:10:57 > 0:11:02An easy way to see that is actually to peel off part of the surface...
0:11:02 > 0:11:04This is probably a good enough bit... OK.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10So, here's a piece of the Earth. It's about a quarter of the whole.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14If I try and flatten this out, it doesn't want to go.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16It really does not want to be flattened.
0:11:16 > 0:11:22What that means is that if you are going to draw a map that's flat,
0:11:22 > 0:11:26you can't get all of the geometry of the real globe correct.
0:11:26 > 0:11:32'There's no way to map the globe exactly onto a flat surface.
0:11:32 > 0:11:37'But Ptolemy perfected a working compromise we still use today...projection.'
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Ptolemy's idea is very straightforward.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Draw a grid on a piece of paper.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48It doesn't have to be exactly the same shape as the grid on the sphere.
0:11:48 > 0:11:55We have here the diagram from his book, telling you how to do it.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00These circles are lines of latitude.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04These straight lines are the lines of longitude.
0:12:04 > 0:12:09So those correspond to the lines on the sphere.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13There is this catalogue of latitude and longitude for various points.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15You can look at the grid and say,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19"Ah, such and such a city should go here...there,"
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and you mark all the cities in and all the points,
0:12:22 > 0:12:25bits of coastlines, rivers - everything is listed.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31Then you join up the dots and you've got your map.
0:12:33 > 0:12:39We're going to test Ptolemy's calculations against the pin-point accuracy of 21st century GPS.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42North 50 degrees, 49.6 minutes.
0:12:42 > 0:12:47West, 0 degrees 51.5 minutes.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51Let's have a look at what Ptolemy's geography tells us.
0:12:51 > 0:12:59Magnus Portus has coordinates longitude 19, latitude 53.
0:12:59 > 0:13:04So why is the longitude, it seems so far out and the answer is he didn't put his zero longitude where we do.
0:13:04 > 0:13:10So this is co-ordinates from nearly 2,000 years ago and he's only a few degrees out.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16So he's pretty close considering, you know, that the reports he's getting
0:13:16 > 0:13:20from travellers will not be fantastically well-observed or fantastically accurate.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24It's impressive for 2,000 years ago.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39It's no wonder that Ptolemy was known as the Father of Geography because this map-making kit
0:13:39 > 0:13:43he put together was one of the great achievements of the Classical World
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and a pinnacle of Greek science.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49For the next 14 centuries it remained seriously unchallenged.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54Instead it was being used throughout that period to chart the known world,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58to imagine it and to even start to control it.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06Once translated, Ptolemy's Geography was distributed throughout renaissance Europe
0:14:06 > 0:14:11and fuelled curiosity about the world beyond the Mediterranean.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21An hour before dawn, 3rd of August 1492.
0:14:21 > 0:14:28Three ships with a 90-strong crew are leaving the Spanish harbour of Palos and heading west.
0:14:28 > 0:14:34Leading the expedition, Christopher Columbus.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39A new age of exploration was just beginning.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41Columbus was bound for China.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47And he was inspired by the most up-to-date map of the day, the Martellus Map.
0:14:48 > 0:14:54The map extends from the Canaries in the west to the east coast of China.
0:14:54 > 0:14:59It also shows the first sea route round the Cape of Good Hope to the Far East,
0:14:59 > 0:15:04newly discovered by the Portuguese.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09The Martellus Map convinced Columbus that he could open up
0:15:09 > 0:15:14a faster sea route to the riches of Asia by sailing directly west.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19The expedition was driven by Columbus's overweening desire for fame, titles and riches.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22But this was an incredibly risky venture.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26The sailors on board all three ships were full of doubts and fears
0:15:26 > 0:15:29and referred to the voyage as, "this mad fantasy".
0:15:32 > 0:15:35Whoa!
0:15:35 > 0:15:41In 1989 Sir Robin Knox-Johnston single-handedly retraced Columbus' journey across the Atlantic,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45using the same kind of instruments that Columbus had used.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51What was it that inspired you to follow Columbus' voyage?
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Primarily I wanted to see how accurately they could navigate in those days.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I'd sailed those waters before but never been focusing on that.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02So I thought, if I just go and do nothing but think about Columbus,
0:16:02 > 0:16:06do this voyage like Columbus, I'm going to pick stuff up.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Well, he leaves from near Cadiz and goes down to the Canary Islands,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17which are also Spanish, so that's a voyage they make quite frequently.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19But it's from here,
0:16:19 > 0:16:24this is where he takes his last food and water on board and then sets off into the blue.
0:16:24 > 0:16:25It's pretty risky.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Oh, certainly it's risky.
0:16:27 > 0:16:29But he was right in a way that,
0:16:29 > 0:16:34if you keep going west you would eventually reach Japan or China.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Had he...
0:16:37 > 0:16:42But he didn't know America was in the way. But the theory was right.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45You know the Martellus Map would say to him if I keep going on
0:16:45 > 0:16:50this latitude all the way around, I'll pop up that side of the map...
0:16:50 > 0:16:52- Somewhere here.- Yes, somewhere here.
0:16:55 > 0:17:01The Martellus Map convinced Columbus that China was much closer than it really was.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Following Ptolemy's calculations,
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Martellus underestimated the circumference of the Earth.
0:17:06 > 0:17:13And it turned out to be a massive 7,000 miles wider than he thought.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16What we're missing totally is the extent of the Atlantic,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19the whole of the Americas and the Pacific Ocean.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22- Quite a lot missing!- Ptolemy didn't know anything about it.- Exactly!
0:17:27 > 0:17:32He sort of guessed it would be 21 maybe 28 days, ended-up being 35.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36But, you know, in 21 days he's going to reach China. LAUGHTER
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Well, that's OK. According to the distance he's calculated it to be,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43but he passes that distance and it's still empty ocean.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48And the days go on, one after another, still no land, still not sighting anything.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51Crew getting fed up. "Hey, we don't want to die here."
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Here I am, 25 days at sea on my own.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04I haven't seen a ship now for well over a week,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07and I think I've got about 1,000 miles to go.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10'And at this speed...
0:18:10 > 0:18:14'oh, I'll make it in about 10 days, I expect. Maybe 11.'
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Cheers!
0:18:23 > 0:18:27He just goes on until he starts seeing birds, wait a minute, they've got to come from land.
0:18:27 > 0:18:28Watch where they go at night.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32Because they always go home at night. OK, that's where land is.
0:18:37 > 0:18:38RADIO STATIC
0:18:38 > 0:18:44About 20 minutes ago at 8:20 exactly, I sighted some land.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47'And at first I wasn't sure but now I'm absolutely sure it is land.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51'It's off to the north-west and I expected it to be down to the south-east if anything.'
0:18:52 > 0:18:57Sir Robin Knox Johnston made land after 34 days at sea.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59CHEERING AND SINGING
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Columbus and his crew took a day longer.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07# San Salvador, San Salvador
0:19:07 > 0:19:10# May God forever keep me free. #
0:19:10 > 0:19:12Well done. APPLAUSE
0:19:12 > 0:19:17For Columbus it now seemed that the riches of the East were spread out before him.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21He eagerly went ashore in an armed boat and was greeted by crowds
0:19:21 > 0:19:24of curious local people eager to see the new arrival.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Columbus named the new territory San Salvador.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33We now know it's an island in the Caribbean.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37Columbus was convinced he'd landed in China.
0:19:37 > 0:19:42And he had no idea that his massive miscalculation would make him the most famous explorer in history.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Columbus had discovered a new continent, America.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51But such was the power of his belief in the map that he was using,
0:19:51 > 0:19:57he went to his grave 14 years later still convinced he'd discovered a western passage to Asia.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01To this day we still celebrate Columbus as the discoverer of
0:20:01 > 0:20:05America, but it was a place that he never believed even existed.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13When Columbus returned to Europe, the map of the world was re-drawn.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24This strange but incredibly beautiful map is the first ever
0:20:24 > 0:20:28that records the land discovered by Columbus on his first voyage.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32You can see here the Bahamas and over here San Salvador.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36It was made by Juan de la Cosa, who went with Columbus on his first
0:20:36 > 0:20:40voyage and all his subsequent expeditions to the New World.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43It was probably made to show to the Spanish sovereigns,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, here in Spain, to give them a sense
0:20:47 > 0:20:52of the extent of the New World over here to the West.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54And as if to emphasise the point,
0:20:54 > 0:21:00the New World is like this big verdant green claw, in complete contrast to the rest of the map,
0:21:00 > 0:21:07giving the Spaniards a sense of entitlement to the enticement of the New World.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16As European powers vied for control of these lucrative new territories,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20maps became vital tools in a global struggle for dominance.
0:21:28 > 0:21:35In 1502, an Italian undercover agent smuggled this map out of Portugal.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42It shows all the new Portuguese discoveries.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45From India to the Persian Gulf.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47East Africa to Brazil.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52But like all maps of this era,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56it marks the vast New World in the west as largely uncharted territory.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05In 1503, an Italian explorer published a set of pamphlets
0:22:05 > 0:22:11announcing his own discoveries in the New World.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15His name was Amerigo Vespucci.
0:22:15 > 0:22:21Vespucci wrote, "..and so we sailed on, till we reached a land which we deemed to be a continent,
0:22:21 > 0:22:26"which is distant westwardly from the isles of Canary, beyond the inhabited regions."
0:22:26 > 0:22:29This was a ground-breaking statement
0:22:29 > 0:22:35because maps of the time suggested that the New World was somehow connected to Asia.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40All of these maps showed that New World without a complete west coast.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44They are somehow joining that New World to Asia.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47So Vespucci's claim to have discovered a separate,
0:22:47 > 0:22:52fourth continent was completely at odds with what everybody really believed.
0:22:52 > 0:22:59Vespucci's description of a fourth continent fired the imagination of
0:22:59 > 0:23:01a German map-maker, Martin Waldseemuller.
0:23:01 > 0:23:08In 1507, he incorporated its outline into a pioneering new work.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13Waldseemuller's map is absolutely vast - much bigger than this projection actually shows.
0:23:13 > 0:23:21When these 12 printed sheets are all stuck together, it stands 1.5 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27And that was deliberate, because Waldseemuller wanted this map
0:23:27 > 0:23:30to hang on the great aristocratic courtly walls of Europe.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38No European had yet seen the ocean on the far side of the New World.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43But here it was shown by Waldseemuller for the first time.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46In contrast to all the other maps showing the latest discoveries,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50this continent is shown completely surrounded by water,
0:23:50 > 0:23:52it's totally navigable.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58This is the first map ever that shows America as a separate fourth continent.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03And Waldseemuller labels it for the very first time down here, "America"
0:24:03 > 0:24:07in honour of Amerigo Vespucci.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19The only surviving copy of Waldseemuller's map of the world
0:24:19 > 0:24:23was bought by the US Library of Congress in 2003.
0:24:28 > 0:24:35It is the first document of any kind that introduces the word 'America' to the world.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39The map is now known as America's birth certificate.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55Maps have played a crucial role in forging national identities across the world.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58But sometimes map-makers purposefully bend the truth,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01to serve the interests of powerful nations.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08The year is 1529.
0:25:08 > 0:25:14A fertile archipelago in the Pacific Ocean known as the Moluccas,
0:25:14 > 0:25:19or Spice Islands, is at the heart of a bitter dispute.
0:25:19 > 0:25:25Spain and Portugal were battling over two of the most valuable commodities in 16th century Europe.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Nutmeg and cloves.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36This was a very serious business.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39Cloves may not seem to be terribly prized today, but at the time,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43in the 16th century, they were literally worth their weight in gold,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46used for medicinal and also culinary purposes.
0:25:49 > 0:25:55A summit was called to try to settle the dispute between the two imperial superpowers of the age.
0:25:55 > 0:26:01The Portuguese initially had the upper hand. They were effectively in control of the Moluccas.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06But as the super-powers' summit began, the Spanish King produced his trump card.
0:26:06 > 0:26:13A new map of the world that claimed to be more authoritative than any other so far.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18This beautiful hand-drawn map had been specially made for the King
0:26:18 > 0:26:22by a virtuoso map-maker called Diego Ribeiro.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30It features finely-drawn navigational and scientific instruments,
0:26:30 > 0:26:31as if to emphasize its authority.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35For the map's primary purpose was political.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42Ribeiro's map shows how the two superpowers had previously agreed
0:26:42 > 0:26:47to divide the world into two spheres of influence.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Here you can see the two flags of the contending empires - there's
0:26:51 > 0:26:53the Portuguese flag, and there's the Spanish flag.
0:26:53 > 0:26:59Everything to the east belongs to the Portuguese, and everything to
0:26:59 > 0:27:02the west of this line belongs to the Spanish.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07The Spice Islands had always been placed in the Portuguese
0:27:07 > 0:27:10sphere of influence on the far eastern side of the world.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13But on Ribeiro's new map, they've moved.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Here they are, the Moluccas Islands all picked out here.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23So what he's done is put them in the Spanish half of the western hemisphere,
0:27:23 > 0:27:28and you can tell because here is the Spanish flag,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32and clearly laying claim to all these islands here - the Moluccas.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38So convincing was Ribeiro's map that the Portuguese reluctantly
0:27:38 > 0:27:42accepted that the Moluccas were in Spanish territory.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46Ribeiro had pulled off a brilliant con trick.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48His map had cooked the books.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51And this is what I find so fascinating about world maps.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56We look at them and THINK that we're seeing an accurate standardised representation of the Earth.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01But the more we dig down beneath the layers of the map,
0:28:01 > 0:28:08we start to see selection going on, we see manipulation and even deception.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14Beautiful scientific objects they may be, but it is that ability of the map to fuse
0:28:14 > 0:28:19all those different elements - high politics, science, art, commerce,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23that makes them so irresistible to rulers throughout history.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30In the early 16th century, navigating at sea was a perilous business.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Ships crossing the Atlantic could find themselves hundreds of miles off course,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42with deadly consequences - starvation,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46dehydration, shipwreck.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52And maps were the problem.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55Due to the curvature of the Earth,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59ships trying to follow a straight line on a map ended up
0:28:59 > 0:29:01veering dangerously off course.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11But in the mid 16th century there was a map-making revolution.
0:29:14 > 0:29:20It would solve this navigational problem and inspire the creation of the most influential map in history.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27It still defines our vision of the world in the 21st century.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41The man behind this revolutionary projection is proudly celebrated
0:29:41 > 0:29:44in his home town of Rupelmonde in Belgium.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50The map-maker Gerard Mercator.
0:29:52 > 0:29:58He's known as the prince of modern geographers, but Mercator had a humble start in life.
0:29:58 > 0:30:06So, here we come at the house where Mercator was born on the 5th March 1512.
0:30:06 > 0:30:086 o'clock in the morning.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11It was a hospital for poor people.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13That was the original use?
0:30:13 > 0:30:15- It was a hospital? - Yes. It was a hospital.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17And his uncle was here a priest in the hospital.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21Taught him here mathematics and Latin.
0:30:21 > 0:30:28And Mercator's uncle made it possible for this young boy, poor boy, brilliant boy,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31to go to university and become what he has become.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35The mapmaker of the navigation.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46As a boy Mercator often came here to the quayside on the river Scheldt.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51So this is the harbour where the young Mercator, 5-6 years old,
0:30:51 > 0:30:55got in touch with the world, the sea, the sailing.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00Of course Columbus had discovered America, and certainly he must have talked about it with the sailors,
0:31:00 > 0:31:05talking about navigation, he had all that in mind.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07And where does the river take us?
0:31:07 > 0:31:12Well, the river takes us from here to Antwerp, then to the sea, and then to the whole world.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22After studying mathematics, geography and astronomy, Mercator
0:31:22 > 0:31:25began making globes for European royalty and other wealthy patrons.
0:31:28 > 0:31:34To do this he outlined the countries of the world onto a series of long segments of paper, called gores.
0:31:36 > 0:31:41When joined together they would fit perfectly around a globe.
0:31:41 > 0:31:46This globe is made in 1541 by Mercator.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49It's beautiful, it's absolutely exquisite.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52So how would you make a globe like this?
0:31:52 > 0:31:57When you make a globe like this, you had to put on plaster, and then you
0:31:57 > 0:32:03had to put on it the gores who were engraved on copper.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06To make a gore, it has to be very accurate.
0:32:06 > 0:32:12What's amazing is that the stream continues on another sheet.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16I can't see the joins on the gores. It's done with incredible skill.
0:32:16 > 0:32:23Building on his work as a globe maker, in 1569 Mercator devised a new method of projection,
0:32:23 > 0:32:27on to a flat surface, to help navigators at sea.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36Mercator began by straightening the lines of longitude, or meridians.
0:32:36 > 0:32:42He then increased the spaces between the lines of latitude moving away from the equator.
0:32:48 > 0:32:55Here is the famous world map from Mercator. He made this map in 1569.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59A new map for sailors in his time.
0:33:04 > 0:33:10For the first time navigators would be able to plot a straight line
0:33:10 > 0:33:14between two points on a map and safely reach their destination.
0:33:14 > 0:33:20To achieve this, Mercator had struck a cartographic compromise.
0:33:22 > 0:33:28To ensure navigational accuracy, his projection increasingly distorts
0:33:28 > 0:33:32the size of countries the further they are from the equator.
0:33:33 > 0:33:40They are actually mapped to infinity. I mean, they are vast.
0:33:40 > 0:33:45And it's the same down here, so the South Pole goes like this.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51So it way of stretching the world.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54But as a result you do get this massive distortion.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Mercator distorts the globe in other ways, too.
0:34:01 > 0:34:07By deliberately placing the equator south of the centre, he gives Europe a dominant position in the world.
0:34:09 > 0:34:17These distortions have been retained as the map projection has been updated over the centuries.
0:34:17 > 0:34:23There's no doubt, as far as I'm concerned, that the Mercator map is the most important one ever made.
0:34:23 > 0:34:28It defines the history of cartography for the next four centuries, and is used everywhere -
0:34:28 > 0:34:34in school atlases, the British Empire even adopts it to get a sense of its imperial dominion.
0:34:34 > 0:34:41This is the map which for us in the West defines the world as we understand it, still to this day.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Mercator was a brilliant scientist.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51But his strange map of the Arctic reveals that he also believed in
0:34:51 > 0:34:53all the myths and superstitions of his age.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Nobody had been to the North Pole,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00so it shows an entirely imaginary geography.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06In the centre is a huge black mountain.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18Around the Pole are the northern countries of the Arctic Circle.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Norway...
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Russia...
0:35:24 > 0:35:28North America...
0:35:28 > 0:35:30And Greenland.
0:35:30 > 0:35:36It was this mythical Arctic map that caught the imagination of an Englishman called John Dee.
0:35:38 > 0:35:44Dee had studied with Mercator and was now an influential adviser to Queen Elizabeth I.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48He was driven by a desire to build a British Empire.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51Dee was fascinated but also really puzzled by
0:35:51 > 0:35:54Mercator's map so he demanded an explanation from his old friend.
0:35:54 > 0:36:02Mercator wrote back describing the ancient travellers tales and strange myths that inspired his map.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06In the midst is a whirlpool, wrote Mercator, onto which there
0:36:06 > 0:36:10empty four in-drawing seas.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15Little people live there, pygmies, not above four feet tall.
0:36:15 > 0:36:23Dee was delighted by this tale, but was even more excited when Mercator suggested that the lands
0:36:23 > 0:36:28of the Arctic had been colonised by ancient Britons 1,000 years earlier.
0:36:28 > 0:36:34For Dee, this provided historical justification for the English to reclaim these northern lands.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41Dee now made his own map to convince the Queen.
0:36:45 > 0:36:51At 11am, on the 3rd October 1580, John Dee presented himself to the royal court at Richmond Palace.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56He solemnly gave the Queen a rolled up map very similar to this one.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02And it showed all the northern regions that he laid claim to on behalf of the Queen,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05stretching all the way from the New World here,
0:37:05 > 0:37:10right over here to the Arctic.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13On the back of the map he also listed all the foreign lands
0:37:13 > 0:37:18that he laid claim to on behalf of the English crown.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25The Queen did not want to risk provoking imperial Portugal and Spain with such claims.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28But some were less cautious.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32The boldness of Dee's vision encouraged other members of the court to think big,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35and start putting the British Empire on the map.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the great explorers of the Elizabethan Age, and a favourite of the Queen.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54She presented Raleigh with a townhouse in London, lands in Ireland and the magnificent
0:37:54 > 0:37:57Sherborne Castle here in Dorset.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Sir Walter Raleigh and John Dee would sit up talking deep into the night here in this study.
0:38:04 > 0:38:11They discussed all the pressing questions of the day - religion, sorcery, exploration and empire.
0:38:11 > 0:38:18Both men were eager to establish an English Empire that would rival Portugal and the great enemy Spain.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27Raleigh had heard travellers tales about a rich and beautiful empire called Guiana in South America,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30with a great and golden city called El Dorado.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Its people were said to blow gold dust on to their naked bodies at drunken feasts.
0:38:40 > 0:38:47Raleigh wanted to win this territory for the Queen and bring her treasures from across the seas.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56In February 1595, Raleigh set off with three ships
0:38:56 > 0:39:01in search of the legendary city in what is now Venezuela.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05And as he made his perilous journey, Raleigh drew a map.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18This is a copy of Sir Walter Raleigh's extraordinary treasure map of Guyana.
0:39:18 > 0:39:24It's got north at the bottom because that is how Raleigh would first have encountered the coastline.
0:39:26 > 0:39:32And then it gets increasingly blank the further into the interior you go
0:39:32 > 0:39:37because, of course, it's virgin, unmapped territory.
0:39:37 > 0:39:43Then looking at it right in the centre is this huge lake with these tributaries coming off,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47they're like tentacles.
0:39:49 > 0:39:55And down here cutting in to the territory is the river Orenoque,
0:39:55 > 0:39:59this is the Orinoco, flowing right across the map.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07Raleigh wrote this book about his travels which is called The Discoverie Of Guiana,
0:40:07 > 0:40:15and in it he describes how his tiny fleet of vessels arrived at "The great river of Orenoque,"
0:40:15 > 0:40:20which he describes as being 300 miles wide at its entrance the sea.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Raleigh also describes a series of islands which
0:40:23 > 0:40:27he says are "Very great, many of them as big as the Isle of Wight."
0:40:27 > 0:40:32And he believed that if he travelled up the Orenoque - or Orinoco River,
0:40:32 > 0:40:37he would finally reach his destination, the fabled city of El Dorado.
0:40:41 > 0:40:49Raleigh's expedition sailed on hundreds of miles through the jungle.
0:40:49 > 0:40:55Throughout his voyage, Raleigh kept hearing ever more fabulous accounts of the treasures of El Dorado.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59He even felt confident enough to mark its location on this map.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04And here just off the great lake, a tributary runs along here
0:41:04 > 0:41:09and in faded letters I can just make out El Dorado. Here it is.
0:41:09 > 0:41:16This is the location where Raleigh believed he would find the great treasures of the city of El Dorado.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25But then the furious storms of the rainy season set in.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31The Orinoco flooded and the expedition was forced to turn back.
0:41:36 > 0:41:42On his return, Raleigh pleaded with the Queen to claim the treasures of
0:41:42 > 0:41:47El Dorado for England and declare herself Empress of Guiana.
0:41:47 > 0:41:53But the Queen was reluctant to antagonise the Spanish, who already had prior claims to the area.
0:41:53 > 0:41:54So instead she did nothing.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57And when she died, Raleigh's luck finally ran out.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02Her successor King James I immediately allied himself to the Spanish.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04He charged Raleigh with treason,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08confiscating all his assets including Sherborne Castle,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11and imprisoned him in the Tower of London.
0:42:11 > 0:42:18Raleigh spent 13 years in the Tower, but the dream of El Dorado never died.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24In 1617, James I became desperate for money and gold.
0:42:24 > 0:42:30He released Raleigh to make one more attempt to find the golden city.
0:42:30 > 0:42:36The King had only one condition - Raleigh mustn't antagonise the Spanish.
0:42:36 > 0:42:42But as they sailed further up the Orinoco than ever before,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Raleigh's men found themselves in Spanish territory.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51After a bloody encounter with Spanish settlers,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55Raleigh was once again forced to return home empty-handed.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59And he wouldn't get another chance.
0:42:59 > 0:43:05Furious at the failure of the mission and at his disobedience, the King ordered Raleigh's execution.
0:43:05 > 0:43:11He was beheaded in 1618.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15El Dorado was a dream that brought Sir Walter Raleigh nothing but trouble -
0:43:15 > 0:43:19no wealth, no colonies, not even a pardon from the King.
0:43:19 > 0:43:25But over the next 200 years, the legend of his map of El Dorado would inspire countless adventurers
0:43:25 > 0:43:29to embark on reckless missions of plunder and possession.
0:43:37 > 0:43:43While Raleigh and the English were pursuing fantasies of El Dorado,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Dutch merchants were using the latest maps to unlock real treasure,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49the exotic spices of the East.
0:43:51 > 0:43:58The Dutch East India Company was set up in 1602 and quickly became a mighty global force.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Maps were vital to the company's success.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Well, at the beginning of the 17th century,
0:44:09 > 0:44:16maps stop being or become less, gorgeous hand-painted objects
0:44:16 > 0:44:20to be exchanged, to be presented as gifts by ambassadors,
0:44:20 > 0:44:26and become part of the paraphernalia and business of travel.
0:44:26 > 0:44:37So they are part of a commercial tool box for exploring the globe with a view to making profit.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43The vast corporate empire of the Dutch East India Company
0:44:43 > 0:44:48- or VOC as it was known - stretched from Africa to Japan.
0:44:48 > 0:44:53It was run from its headquarters here in Amsterdam.
0:44:53 > 0:44:58This was the hub of a global information network where
0:44:58 > 0:45:03the company's own cartographers drew up their own maps.
0:45:03 > 0:45:07These maps were closely-guarded commercial secrets.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11The ships of the Dutch East India Company had a combination of
0:45:11 > 0:45:13small scale maps and large scale maps on board.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17The small scale maps for crossing the big oceans,
0:45:17 > 0:45:19the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21This one was used for crossing the Atlantic,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24although there's only a little piece left.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28When they had crossed the ocean, they needed larger scale maps.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32Of course the inland is hardly visible because that was of no use,
0:45:32 > 0:45:37but everything on the shore or in front of the shore was very clear and very accurate.
0:45:37 > 0:45:41This is really a map about commerce, about marking the coastline
0:45:41 > 0:45:44and working out where you can land and can trade your goods.
0:45:44 > 0:45:49When you were nearing your goal it was very essential that you had a very accurate map.
0:45:49 > 0:45:56In fact, there was a whole circulation of communication that took place so the pilots, they
0:45:56 > 0:46:02took their charts back to Amsterdam and they said, "This is wrong, this is better, I made that one better."
0:46:02 > 0:46:06The chief chart maker,
0:46:06 > 0:46:10he improved the maps and sent the ships with new improved maps.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16As the Dutch mapped the world with increasing accuracy,
0:46:16 > 0:46:19they were also staking their claim on new territory.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22They are using the equivalent of the Tube map.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24They can get wherever they want.
0:46:24 > 0:46:30They can confidently trade across the hinterlands of before uncharted territories.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32They know where people are.
0:46:32 > 0:46:37That is a very modern idea - that you are somewhere extremely remote
0:46:37 > 0:46:41that you arrived at by sea but you know where other people are,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44other Westerners, in relation to yourself.
0:46:46 > 0:46:51In 1633 the VOC hired Willem Blaeu as its chief map-maker.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Blaeu had his own successful map making business, and his new job
0:46:55 > 0:46:59gave him access to highly classified information.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03Rather odd that a man like Willem Bleau
0:47:03 > 0:47:11both had his own business, he made atlas maps, and next to that he
0:47:11 > 0:47:14was the chief cartographer of the Dutch East India Company.
0:47:14 > 0:47:22And whereas these maps were secret, that was commercial capital, these maps were in the end little puzzle
0:47:22 > 0:47:28pieces that fitted into the big puzzle of the world map, that improved steadily on and on.
0:47:28 > 0:47:34So Bleau is using this kind of raw material to then put together an updated version of the world map?
0:47:34 > 0:47:36Yes.
0:47:42 > 0:47:48Blaeu's atlas was a luxury object, beautifully bound and engraved,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51full of colour and intricate typography.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56Blaeu used the latest data gathered by the Dutch East India Company to
0:47:56 > 0:48:00update the map of the world using Mercator's projection.
0:48:00 > 0:48:07This was the first time that a Mercator projection was included in a world atlas.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12In this way he popularised a projection that wasn't popular at all.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17It was a projection that was made for the seafaring people, for the pilots.
0:48:17 > 0:48:23Now he included the map of which he was apparently so proud in this atlas.
0:48:24 > 0:48:32In the 1630s, Blaeu's atlas was translated into many languages and became a huge success.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35And the Dutch East India Company
0:48:35 > 0:48:40was now eclipsing Portugal and Spain in global trade.
0:48:40 > 0:48:47The big innovation from the middle of the 17th century for the Dutch is that they stop carrying in gold
0:48:47 > 0:48:53and silver simply to buy and sell in the Indies and carry the trade back,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57they now trade across the Indies with other nations,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01with other Dutch parts of the East India Company.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05They transact goods for other goods,
0:49:05 > 0:49:10they use copper, they use silk for spices, there is a whole burgeoning
0:49:10 > 0:49:15really commercial marketplace which is remote from Holland.
0:49:15 > 0:49:21They are an autonomous bazaar in the East Indies,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23and the maps have enabled that.
0:49:26 > 0:49:33By the end of the 18th century the VOC had sent over a million people to work in the Asian trade.
0:49:33 > 0:49:40They'd dispatched nearly 5,000 ships and netted millions of tonnes of goods and commodities.
0:49:46 > 0:49:53The VOC brought huge prosperity to Holland and kick-started a sophisticated international market.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03But in the nineteenth century, the failure to standardise maps began to
0:50:03 > 0:50:06hold back the development of an efficient global economy.
0:50:06 > 0:50:12Navigation relied on comparing the time at your current location
0:50:12 > 0:50:17with the time on a fixed line of longitude called prime meridian.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25Britain's prime meridian ran through Greenwich, where the time was marked
0:50:25 > 0:50:28once a day by the time ball at Flamsteed House.
0:50:32 > 0:50:38Passing Flamsteed House as the time ball fell here, ships leaving the London docks could now quite
0:50:38 > 0:50:42accurately set their clocks to 1pm Greenwich Mean Time.
0:50:42 > 0:50:48But that of course was just the British ships - trading nations all the way from France right through
0:50:48 > 0:50:53to Japan were still using their own measurements of time according to their own prime meridians.
0:50:53 > 0:50:54It was absolute chaos.
0:50:57 > 0:51:03So could the world's maps be standardised around a single line?
0:51:03 > 0:51:08In 1884, representatives of 25 countries came together to
0:51:08 > 0:51:13decide where the world's prime meridian should be.
0:51:13 > 0:51:19The meridian lines that had ranged across the world's maps since Ptolemy
0:51:19 > 0:51:22were now symbols of imperial prestige.
0:51:22 > 0:51:28Proceedings were dominated by Britain and France, who were by now the pre-eminent
0:51:28 > 0:51:34imperial powers of the age, with each lobbying for the supremacy of their own prime meridian.
0:51:36 > 0:51:38The French delegates regarded themselves
0:51:38 > 0:51:42as part of a long and extremely distinguished tradition of scientific map making.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44They were going to fight their corner really hard.
0:51:44 > 0:51:50They had no intention of giving up the prime meridian here in Paris to the British.
0:51:50 > 0:51:58But Britain's claim found support from the United States' delegate, Commander William Sampson.
0:51:58 > 0:52:04Commander Sampson argued that, "The meridian should be selected which is now in most general use.
0:52:04 > 0:52:09"More than 70% of all the shipping of the world uses the Greenwich Meridian."
0:52:09 > 0:52:13Britain now had the advantage.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17When it came to the vote, only San Domingo opposed the British claim.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21The French abstained.
0:52:21 > 0:52:27Britain was absolutely triumphant, and this 1886 British Empire map shows
0:52:27 > 0:52:35Britain right at the centre of the world, with the Greenwich Meridian running right down the middle.
0:52:35 > 0:52:40And across the map in red, British Imperial Dominions.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43And just to make the point very clear about what is happening here,
0:52:43 > 0:52:48Britannia is shown lounging on a globe.
0:52:48 > 0:52:53The French delegation returned home to Paris with their tails between their legs,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56but they still refused to concede defeat.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01This French world map produced eight years after the Meridian Conference
0:53:01 > 0:53:08stubbornly sticks to Paris as the prime meridian and, by implication, France as the centre of the world.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12It would be another quarter of a century before the French map-makers
0:53:12 > 0:53:15adopted Greenwich as their prime meridian.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29The international battle over the prime meridian is long over,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33and the mapping of the whole world is almost complete.
0:53:33 > 0:53:37But disputes over unclaimed territory continue.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41In 2007, the age of discovery and plunder
0:53:41 > 0:53:43was given a new lease of life
0:53:43 > 0:53:51when a Russian submarine planted a titanium flag on the seabed directly beneath the North Pole.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55And the rush by other nations to claim rights over natural resources
0:53:55 > 0:53:58beneath the Arctic ice is now putting today's map-makers
0:53:58 > 0:54:02at the heart of a new struggle for power and wealth.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12The International Boundaries Research Unit at Durham University
0:54:12 > 0:54:17is drawing up new maps of the Arctic in an effort to resolve potential territorial disputes.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20This is the political map and this is the physical map?
0:54:20 > 0:54:23- That's correct, yes. - Why is this map so important now?
0:54:23 > 0:54:28The need for the physical mapping is because so little is known about
0:54:28 > 0:54:32what lies under the Arctic because it has been covered by ice.
0:54:32 > 0:54:39So global warming is creating a much more politically charged area around claims to the North Pole?
0:54:39 > 0:54:43To some extent, the opening up of the Arctic waters means
0:54:43 > 0:54:48that areas where there are potential resources are becoming much clearer.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51So, what are the resources involved here?
0:54:51 > 0:54:58It's huge, I think it was something like 20 billion barrels of oil and gas in the Arctic in region.
0:55:00 > 0:55:06Areas likely to be rich in gas and oil have already been partially mapped.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09But who owns these resources?
0:55:09 > 0:55:12It all depends on who can establish their claim to the seabed.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19The Durham team have created the first political map of the Arctic
0:55:19 > 0:55:22to show who is currently laying claim to what.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26We have the land territories of Russia,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30which has the longest coastal frontage on the Arctic,
0:55:30 > 0:55:34the USA through its sovereignty over Alaska,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38we have Canada with the Canadian Archipelago.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42Then we have Greenland under the sovereignty of Denmark,
0:55:42 > 0:55:44and finally Norway,
0:55:44 > 0:55:47through its sovereignty over the Svalbard Archipelago.
0:55:53 > 0:55:58States have rights over the resources up to 200 nautical miles from their coastline.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01But in exceptional circumstances,
0:56:01 > 0:56:04it's possible for a country to extend this boundary.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08And that's what the Russians are trying to do.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11They're laying claim to a raised area of the seabed
0:56:11 > 0:56:14extending all the way from Siberia to the North Pole.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17It's called the Lomonosov Ridge.
0:56:17 > 0:56:22The famous flag-planting incident on the North Pole seabed came as part of Russia's attempt
0:56:22 > 0:56:25to gather more evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge
0:56:25 > 0:56:31really is physically connected to the continental margin of Russian land territory.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35Which caused quite a hostile reaction from some of its neighbours,
0:56:35 > 0:56:40particularly Canada, which said, "Why was Russia claiming the North Pole as Russian?"
0:56:40 > 0:56:44Legally, it has no effect at all.
0:56:44 > 0:56:50Planting a flag, certainly these days, does not say anything about title to territory.
0:56:51 > 0:56:56I think having a good map on the table in a negotiation is extremely important.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01As that ocean becomes more navigable,
0:57:01 > 0:57:03there is a risk of naval incidents
0:57:05 > 0:57:10and who knows what kind of geo-political games could be played in the region.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17From medieval times to the age of discovery and the era of empire,
0:57:17 > 0:57:25map-making has always been bound up with conquest, imperial expansion and conflict.
0:57:29 > 0:57:33This modern "map in progress" depicts the fault lines of the future.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39It's a warning of potential conflict ahead as the Arctic ice melts.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50The lessons of history would suggest that where there's a world map, plunder will surely follow.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53But this time the map-makers are ahead of the game,
0:57:53 > 0:57:57because when the ice melts and the exploitation really starts,
0:57:57 > 0:58:00there will be an internationally recognised chart of the region
0:58:00 > 0:58:06to take the heat out of the conflicts over mineral wealth which will surely take place.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10In the 21st century, map-makers have become peacemakers.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:25 > 0:58:28E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk