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History of Land Surveys

 Ever since ancient man decided that certain piece of land would participate in one tribe and another parcel to another, there has been a dependence on land surveys. While the technology and means of mediation have definitely become more sophisticated through the years, the basic have to define our boundaries remains. Every major civilization in the history of the world utilized land surveying, some with more sophisticated and accurate results than others. Among the first types of surveying by mathematical means was by the Egyptians. The Great Pyramid at Giza, build around 2700 BC, demonstrates their prowess and understanding of surveying techniques. Once the Nile overflowed its banks and flooded the plains, the ancient Egyptians redrew boundary lines through the use of basic geometry. Also, an Egyptian Land register existed as early as 3000 BC. Though miles before other civilizations of their time in regards to their surveying and irrigation techniques, nowadays we prefer a more scientific method of marking boundaries instead of declaring I swear by the fantastic god that's in heaven that the right boundary stone has been create, once the boundary stones were replaced following the flooding waters of the Nile had receded. Building upon the example of the Egyptians, the Romans went one step further and established Land Surveyor being an official position within the Roman Empire. https://surveyorsyorkshire.co.uk/best-utility-surveys-yorkshire/ were called agrimensores, collectively known as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum and they performed various tasks through the entire Empire. They were remarkably thorough and precise within their methodology; they would create straight lines and right angles using simple tools. After the lines were measured, they might create a furrow or perhaps a shallow ditch to represent the lines. Texts have been found which date dating back to the first century AD, and some furrows developed by them remain today. In England in 1086, William the Conqueror wrote the Domesday Book, which covered most of England and contained the names of the land owners, the number of land they owned, the quality of said land, and specific information about each area's resources and peoples. As the breadth of information was impressive for enough time, the technical surveying skills were lacking. The maps were not designed to scale and did not accurately show locations. It will not surprise anyone to learn that Napoleon Bonaparte was enthusiastic about proper surveying. If you are attempting to conquer the known world, it can help to have accurate maps. In 1908 he founded the cadastre, a thorough register of the property of a county, including ownership details, location as precisely as you possibly can, and as much information regarding the value and usage of the land. It also included maps attracted to scale both at 1:2500 and 1:1250. Using the cadastre spread quickly, but ran into problems in the more sparsely populated and disputed areas, since it would have to be updated each time anything changed. Napoleon felt that the establishment of the cadastre will be his greatest accomplishment in civil law. Land surveying has even more applications today than in those of our predecessors. As our means of recording and preserving our history becomes more sophisticated, so do the means by which we measure and record our boundaries and land.

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