Many of these maps, like those of the Spanish and Portuguese imperialists of the 16th century, did more to illustrate dominance and ambition than to improve cartographical practice.
Mr Briedis, however, begins by noting that when French geographers recently plotted the mid-point between Europe's cartographical extremes, they found the continent's true centre was a derelict farmhouse just outside the city.
He ends his book with a blast of cartographical analysis, and suggests that weather maps have created the template for other representations of volatile geographic phenomena such as the incidence of crime and disease.