Sometimes, seeing the world differently is just a matter of perspective—or in this case, a really good map or chart. We’ve pulled together a selection of graphics that take dry data and ...

To his amazement, he discovered that it contained not only a rare 1515 star chart engraved by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, but also two giant world maps. Fischer had never seen anything ...

It was a far cry from earlier Ptolemaic maps (see “Mapping the World,” below), in which Italy’s boot was painfully twisted and the teeth at the Strait of Gibraltar were stretched into flat hammer ...