Did You Know?

Up until the 18th century, maps were often decorated with fanciful beasts and monsters, at the expense of accurate details about places. French mapmakers of the 1700s and 1800s encouraged the use of more scientific methods in the art they called "cartographie." The French word cartographie (the science of making maps), from which we get our English word "cartography," was created from "carte," meaning "map," and "-graphie," meaning "representation by." Around the same time we adopted "cartography" in the mid-19th century, we also created our word for a mapmaker, "cartographer."

Examples of cartographer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Roger Harrison Mudd, whose father was as a cartographer and engineer, was born on Feb. 9, 1928, in Washington. — Washington Post, "Roger Mudd, probing TV journalist and network news anchor, dies at 93," 9 Mar. 2021 The Mercator was devised by a Flemish cartographer in 1569. — New York Times, "Can This New Map Fix Our Distorted Views of the World?," 24 Feb. 2021 In his essay on Smith as a cartographer, Tom Sharpe suggests that Banks may have helped the spread of Smith’s ideas about fossils as stratigraphic signifiers abroad as well as at home. — Jenny Uglow, The New York Review of Books, "The Reader of Rocks," 23 Feb. 2021 At the book's center is William Barents, Dutch cartographer and navigator who made three voyages in the late 16th century in search of a northern sea route from Europe to China. — Star Tribune, "Review: 'Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World,' by Andrea Pitzer," 8 Jan. 2021 In 1594, Dutch investors bet big on that theory, commissioning the cartographer William Barents to lead an expedition to the northernmost tip of Norway and then east over Russia in search of a northeast route. — New York Times, "‘Icebound’ Takes Us Back to the Arctic, in All Its Terror and Splendor," 8 Jan. 2021 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan have supporting roles in this martial-arts fantasy about a cartographer who travels to 18th century China. — Los Angeles Times Staff, chicagotribune.com, "Yes, Virginia, there are movies this holiday season. Here’s where to find them," 20 Nov. 2020 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan have supporting roles in this martial-arts fantasy about a cartographer who travels to 18th century China. — Los Angeles Times Staff, chicagotribune.com, "Yes, Virginia, there are movies this holiday season. Here’s where to find them," 20 Nov. 2020 In the coming months, state legislatures and governors in states without nonpartisan redistricting commissions will play political cartographer, haggling over the borders of new congressional and legislative districts. — David M. Drucker, Washington Examiner, "Redistricting gives GOP a built-in edge to win House majority in 2022," 17 Dec. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cartographer.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.