Around 1583–1596 Timothy Pont, a young graduate of the University of St Andrews, undertook the remarkable task of mapping Scotland. As far as we know, he was the first person to survey Scotland in any detail, and his maps would later form the basis of the first atlas of Scotland, produced by Blaeu in 1654. In this book, a range of experts from different disciplines shed new light on Pont’s mapping and on the insight he gives into 16th century Scotland, while the many illustrations provide a fascinating commentary on the past.

The countryside we see today is largely a man-made creation. Three hundred years ago, the landscape looked very different; it had a confused, fragmented appearance, with clusters of small farms, narrow strips of cultivated ground in a bare landscape wi
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