"Map-makng is very old, and has been practised by the most primitive peoples for many ages. Rude scratches on many rocks in South America are now interpreted as maps. East Greenland natives carve maps out of wood; American Indians make map-sketches on birch and other barks; the Marshall Islanders charted the sailing routes along their coasts long before they knew of the white man; the desert nomad sketches maps in the sand to illustrate his wanderings, and nearly every primitive tribe to-day makes maps to show routes to hunting-grounds, animal paths, fisheries, fords, etc. They know as well as we do that maps are practically a human necessity; but we know further that a good map often places before our eyes an amount of accurate geographical information that might take many months to dig out of books."
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From Adams's 1912 article in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Maps and Map-Making
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cyrus_Cornelius_Adams
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Cyrus Cornelius Adams
Cyrus Cornelius Adams (January 7, ,1849 – May 5, 1928) was an American geographer, journalist, and author. Adams served as the second president of the American Association of Geographers and was a prominent member of the American Geographical Society.
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