The Impact of Cosmological Knowledge on the Generalization of Spatial Concepts

The study focusses on the relation of astronomical knowledge, cosmological theories and geographical knowledge in ancient times. From the study of the prehistory of Ptolemy’s Geography, the close connectedness between the cosmological hypotheses of a spherical earth and the transfer of celestial to terrestrial coordinates became obvious. The comparison with Chinese cosmology and cartography suggests that the absence of a concept of spherical earth explains, at least in part, the absence of similar uses of coordinates in ancient Chinese cartography in favor of plane coordinates.