Please find below a list of mapmakers, explorers and map publishers.

• Anaximander, Greek Anatolia (610 BC–546 BC), first to attempt making a map of the known world
• Hecataeus of Miletus, Greek Anatolia (550 BC–476 BC), geographer, cartographer, and early ethnographer
• Dicaearchus, Magna Graecia (c. 350 BC–285 BC), philosopher, cartographer, geographer, mathematician, author
• Ende, Spain (c. 1000 AD), illustrator, cartographer, nun
• Eratosthenes, Ptolemaic Egypt (276 BC–194 BC), Greek scientist, mathematician, geographer, and cartographer
• Gyōki, Japan (668–749), Buddhist monk, cartographer, surveyor, and civil engineer,
• Hipparchus, Greek Anatolia (190 BC–120 BC), astronomer, cartographer, geographer
• Liu An, China (179 BC–122 BC), geographer, cartographer, author of the Huainanzi
• Marinus of Tyre, Roman Syria (c. AD 70–130), Greek^[1] geographer, cartographer and mathematician, who founded mathematical geography
• Ptolemy, Ptolemaic Egypt (c. 85–165), Greek astronomer, cartographer, and geographer
• Pei Xiu (224–271), Chinese geographer and cartographer
• Isidore of Seville, Hispania (560–636)
• al-Khwārazmī, Caliphate (9th century), Persian cartographer, geographer, and polymath.
• Su Song, China (1020–1101), horologist and engineer; as a Song dynasty diplomat, he used his knowledge of cartography and map-making to solve territorial border disputes with the rival Liao dynasty
• Shen Kuo, China (1031–1095), polymath scientist and statesman, author of the Dream Pool Essays, which included a large atlas of China and foreign regions, and also made a three-dimensional raised-relief map
• al-Idrisi, Sicily (1100–1166), Arab cartographer, geographer and traveller
• Maximus Planudes, Byzantine Empire (13th century), a monk credited with restoring the texts and maps of Ptolemy
• Petrus Vesconte, Genoese cartographer, author of the oldest signed Portolan chart (1311)
• Angelino Dulcert (14th century), author of the earliest known Majorcan portolan charts of the Mediterranean

• Jacobus Angelus, Florence, translated Ptolemy into Latin c. 1406
• Martin Behaim (Germany, 1436–1507)
• Benedetto Bordone (Venetian Republic 1460–1551)
• Sebastian Cabot (1476–1557), Venetian explorer
• Erhard Etzlaub (1460–1532)
• Leonardo da Vinci (Italy, 1452–1519)
• Henricus Martellus Germanus (Germany, fl. 1480–1496)
• Donnus Nicholas Germanus (Germany, fl. 1460–1475)
• Fra Mauro (Venice, c. 1459)
• Piri Reis (Dardanelles, Ottoman Empire, 1465–1554/1555), author of the Kitab-ı Bahriye
• Johannes Ruysch (Netherlands, c. 1466–1530), explorer, cartographer, astronomer, manuscript illustrator and painter
• Hartmann Schedel (Germany, 1440–1514)
• Amerigo Vespucci (Republic of Florence, 1454–1512)
• Johannes Werner (Germany, 1466–1528), refined and promoted the Werner map projection
• Martin Waldseemüller (Germany, c. 1470–c. 1521/1522)
• Olaus Magnus (Olof Månsson) (Sweden, 1490–1557), published Carta Marina in 1539
• Gabriel de Valseca (15th century), Majorcan, author of several portolan charts of the Mediterranean
• Grazioso Benincasa ^[it] (15th century), from Ancona, author of several portolan charts of the Mediterranean

• Giovanni Battista Agnese (c. 1500–1564), Genoese, cartographer, author of numerous nautical atlases
• Hacı Ahmet, Ottoman Tunisian cartographer, translated 16th c. map into Turkish for the Ottoman Empire.
• Peter Apian (1495–1552), also known as Peter Bienewitz, German geographer and astronomer, author of the Apianus projection
• Philipp Apian (1531–1589)
• Joost Janszoon Bilhamer (Netherlands, 1541–1590)
• Hernando de los Ríos Coronel (1559–1621?), cosmographer and cartographer, mapped Taiwan (Isla Hermosa), Luzon and part of the Chinese coast.
• Willem Janszoon Blaeu (Netherlands, 1571–1638), father of Joan Blaeu
• Giovanni Battista Boazio, mapped Sir Francis Drake's voyage to the West Indies and America
• Anders Bure (Sweden, 1571 – 1646), founder of Swedish cartography
• Jacob Roelofs van Deventer (Netherlands, c. 1510/15–1575)
• Fernão Vaz Dourado (India, c. 1520–c. 1580), Portuguese cartographer of the school initiated by Lopo Homem
• Oronce Finé (France, 1494–1555)
• Gemma Frisius (or Reiner Gemma) (Netherlands, 1508–1555)
• Jan Van Hanswijk (Netherlands, fl. 1594)
• Martin Helwig (Germany, 1516–1574)
• Augustin Hirschvogel (Germany, 1503–1553)
• Lopo Homem (Portugal?–1565), co-author, with the Reinel family, of the well-known Miller Atlas
• Diogo Homem (Portugal 1521–1576), cartographer, son of Lopo Homem
• Jodocus Hondius (Netherlands, 1563–1612)
• Johannes Honterus (Transylvania, 1498–1549)
• Gerard de Jode (Netherlands, 1509–1591)
• Urbano Monti (Italy, 1544–1613)
• Jacques le Moyne (France, c. 1533–1588)
• Guillaume Le Testu (France, c. 1509–1573)
• Jacobus Pentius de Leucho (Italy)
• Gerardus Mercator (Netherlands, 1512–1594)
• Sebastian Münster (Germany, 1488–1552)
• Abraham Ortelius (France, 1527–1598), generally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas
• Petrus Plancius (Netherlands, 1552–1622)
• Diego Gutiérrez (Spain, ?) published a map entitled Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio with printer Hieronymus Cock. First map with toponym "California" and first appearance of a word for "Appalachia," as the term "Apalchen."
• Timothy Pont (Scotland, 1565–1614)
• Pedro Reinel (Portugal ?–c. 1542), author of the oldest signed Portuguese nautical chart
• Jorge Reinel (Portugal c. 1502–c. 1572), Portuguese cartographer, son of Pedro Reinel
• Diogo Ribeiro (Portugal, ?–Sevilha, 1533), author of the first known planisphere with a graduated Equator (1527)
• Sebastião Lopes (Portugal 16th century), Portuguese cartographer and cosmographer
• Christopher Saxton (England, born c. 1540)
• John Speed (England, 1542–1629)
• Fernando Álvares Seco (Portugal?–?), signed the oldest known map of Portugal, reproduced in various editions of Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
• Bernardus Sylvanus (Italy)
• Luís Teixeira (Portugal ?–?), author of an important atlas of Brazil
• Bartolomeu Velho (Portugal ?–1568), cosmographer and cartographer
• Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer (Netherlands, 1533/34–1605/06), captain, cartographer
• Edward Wright (mathematician) (England, 1561–1615), mathematician and artographer
• Georg Braun (Germany, 1541–1622)

• Pieter van der Aa (Netherlands, 1659–1733)
• João Teixeira Albernaz I (Portugal, died c. 1664), prolific cartographer, son of Luis Teixeira
• João Teixeira Albernaz II (Portugal, died c. 1699), Portuguese cartographer
• Pedro Teixeira Albernaz (Portugal, c. 1595–1662), Portuguese cartographer author of an important atlas of the Iberian Peninsula and a map of Portugal (1656)
• Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan (France, c. 1600–1673), French cartographer who created the first descriptive map of Ukraine
• François Berthelot (France), cartographer of the Mediterranean Sea
• Johannes Blaeu (Netherlands, 1596–1673)
• Emanuel Bowen (1693/4–1767), engraver and map maker
• Greenville Collins (British, 1643–1694)
• Vincenzo Coronelli (Venetian, 1650–1718)
• Guillaume Delisle (French, 1675–1726)
• Petter Gedda (Sweden, 1661–1697)
• Hessel Gerritsz (Netherlands, 1581–1632), cartographer for the VOC
• Isaak de Graaff (Netherlands, 1668–1743), cartographer for the VOC
• Johann Homann (Germany, 1664–1724), geographer
• Henricus Hondius (Netherlands, 1597–1651)^[5]
• Willem Hondius (Netherlands, 1598–1652/58)
• Johannes Janssonius (Netherlands, 1588–1664)
• Johannes van Keulen (Netherlands, 1654–1715)
• Joannes de Laet (Netherlands, 1581–1649)
• Michael van Langren (Netherlands, 1600–1675)
• Alain Manesson Mallet (France, 1630–1706)
• Matthäus Merian Sr. (Switzerland, 1593–1650) and Jr. (Switzerland, 1621–1687)
• David de Meyne (Netherlands, c. 1569–1620)
• Herman Moll (Germany?/England, 1654–1732)
• Robert Morden (England, 1650–1703)
• Giovan Battista Nicolosi (Italy, 1610–1670)
• Dirck Rembrantsz van Nierop (Netherlands, 1610–1682), cartographer, mathematician and astronomist
• Jean-Baptiste Nolin (France, c.1657–1708)
• John Ogilby (Scotland, 1600–1676)
• Henry Popple [fr] (England, 16xx–1743)
• Nicolas Sanson (France, 1600–1667)
• Peter Schenk the Elder (Germany, 1660–1718/19)
• Johannes Vingboons (Netherlands, 1616/17–1670), cartographer and aquarellist
• Georg Matthäus Vischer (Austria, 1628–1696), cartographer, topographer and engraver
• Claes Jansz Visscher (Netherlands, 1587–1652)
• Nicolaes Visscher I (Netherlands, 1618–1679)
• Frederik de Wit (Netherlands, 1610/16–1698)
• Nicolaes Witsen (Netherlands, 1641–1717), diplomat, cartographer, writer and mayor of Amsterdam
• Giovanni Cassini (a.k.a. Cassini I, Italy & France, 1625–1712)
• Jacques Cassini (a.k.a. Cassini II, France, 1677–1756)

• Anders Åkerman (Sweden, 1721/23–1778), first globemaker in Sweden
• John Arrowsmith (England, 1790–1873), member of the Arrowsmith family of geographers
• Louis Albert Guislain Bacler d'Albe (France, 1761–1824), also artist and longtime strategic advisor to Napoleon
• John Senex (1690–1740), engraver, publisher, surveyor and geographer to Queen Anne^[6]
• John Lodge Cowley, cartographer, mathematician and geographer
• Agostino Codazzi (Italy, 1793–1858)
• Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres (1721–1824), created Atlantic Neptune
• Giambattista (Giovanni Battista) Albrizzi (Venice, 1698–1777), publisher of illustrated books and maps
• Sieur le Rouge map c. 1740
• John Gibson (cartographer), map c. 1758
• Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703–1772), chief cartographer to the French navy
• William Bligh (England, 1754–57 December 1817), Ship's Master during the infamous Bounty mutiny and noted free-hand cartographer
• Rigobert Bonne (France, 1727–1795), Royal Cartographer to France in the office of the Hydrographer at Depot de la Marine
• Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (France, 1697–1782)
• Don Tomas Lopez de Vargas Machuca (Spain, 1730–1802)
• Lourenco Homem da Cunha d’Eca, created Carta militar das principaes estradas de Portugal, 1808
• Abel Buell (1742–1822), published the first map of the new United States created by an American
• Catharina Buijs (1714–1781), Dutch cartographer for the Dutch East India Company
• Dimitrie Cantemir (Moldavia and Russia, 1673–1723)
• César-François Cassini de Thury (a.k.a. Cassini III, France, 1714–1784)
• Jean-Dominique Cassini (a.k.a. Cassini IV, France, 1748–1845)
• Edme Mentelle (France, 1730–1816)
• Pierre Gilles Chanlair (France, 1758–1817)^[10]
• James Cook (Captain RN) (1728–1779), navigator and naval chart maker
• Simeon De Witt (1756–1834), successor to Robert Erskine and Surveyor-General of the State of New York
• Louis Isidore Duperrey (French, 1786–1865)
• Johann Friedrich Endersch (Germany, fl. 1755)
• Colonel Robert Erskine (1735–1780), geographer and Surveyor-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution
• Joseph de Ferraris (1726–1814), Austrian cartographer of the Austrian Netherlands
• Matthew Flinders (British, 1774–1814), Royal Navy officer; circumnavigated Australia and made an exploration of the Australian coastline
• Joseph Marx Baron von Liechtenstern (Austria, 1765–1828)
• Louis Feuillée (France, 1660–1732)
• Björn Gunnlaugsson (Iceland, 1788–1876)
• Fielding Lucas, Jr. (c. 1781–1854), of the Lucas Brothers, Baltimore, US
• J. Flyn "New and Correct Plan of London", 1770
• Samuel Gustaf Hermelin (Sweden, 1744–1820)^[11]
• Thomas Jefferys (England, c. 1710–1771), geographer of King George III of the United Kingdom
• William Faden (England, 1749–1836), successor to Thomas Jefferys
• Pierre Jacotin (France, 1765–1829)
• Murdoch McKenzie (Scotland, died 1797)
• John Mitchell (1711–1768), colonial British American mapmaker
• Thomas Livingstone Mitchell (England, 1792–1855)
• Robert Moresby (England, 1794–1863)
• Thomas Moule (England, 1784–1851)
• Carlton Osgood (United States, †1816)
• Adriaan Reland (Netherlands, 1676–1718), linguist and cartographer
• Thomas Richardson (Scotland)
• Dider Robert de Vaugondy (France, 1688–1766)
• John Rocque (England, 1709–1762)
• David Watson, surveyed Scotland post 1747 to produce The Duke of Cumberland's Map
• William Roy (England, 1726–1790)
• William Mudge (England, 1762–1820)
• Thomas Frederick Colby (England, 1784–1852)
• Matthäus Seutter (Germany, 1678–1757)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau (1743–1806)
• Matthias Seutter (Germany, 1678–1757)
• Jacob Swart (Netherlands, 1796–1866)
• Inō Tadataka (Japan, 1745–1818), Surveyor and cartographer who completed the first surveyed map of Japan
• David Thompson (British–Canadian, 1770–1857)
• Daniel-Charles Trudaine (France, 1703–1769)
• Philip Johan von Strahlenberg (1676–1747)
• Thomas Kitchin (1718–1784), London-based cartographer and engraver of maps of England, greater Europe, and parts of the British Empire; at one time held the titles "Senior Hydrographer to His Majesty" and "Senior Engraver to His Royal Highness the Duke of York"^[12]
• Friedrich Christoph Müller (Germany, 1751–1808)
• Philippe Vandermaelen (Belgium, 1795–1869)
• Alexander Wilbrecht (Russia, 1757–1823), geographer of the Geographic Department of the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty
• Emma Willard (United States, 1787–1870), women's rights activist and education reformer
• James Wilson (United States, 1763–1835), first maker of globes in the United States
• George Washington (United States of America, 1732–1799), first president of the United States; cartographer
• Henri Michelot (France, born c. 1664), Marseilles, France, hydrographer and pilot of the Royal Galley

• Robert Aitken of Beith. born c. 1786
• Carlo de Candia (1803–1862), Italian cartographer, created the large maritime map of Sardinia in 1: 250,000 scale, travel version.
• John Bartholomew the elder(26 April 1805 – 8 April 1861), Scottish cartographer and engraver.
• Henry Peter Bosse (Germany/United States, 1844–1903), also a photographer and civil engineer
• Abraham Bradley Jr. (1767–1838), created first postal road maps of the United States
• George Bradshaw (England, 1801–1853)
• Eugenia Wheeler Goff (United States, 1844–1922) combined history, resources, and geography
• Leslie George Bullock (1895–1971)
• Bernard J. S. Cahill (1867–1944), inventor of the octahedral "Butterfly Map" of the world
• George Comer (1858–1937)
• John Paul Goode (1862–1932), created the "Evil Mercator" and Goode’s World Atlas
• Hermann Haack (Germany, 1872–1966)
• Eduard Imhof (1895–1986), oversaw the Schweizerischer Mittelschulatlas
• James Ireland Craig (1868–1952), inventor of the Craig retroazimuthal projection, otherwise known as the Mecca projection.
• J. H. Colton (United States, 1800–1893)
• Carl Diercke (1842–1913)
• Max Eckert-Greifendorff (Germany, 1868–1938)
• Percy Fawcett (1867–1925), British explorer of South America
• Matthew Fontaine Maury (United States, 1806–1873), U.S. Navy officer; also oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator.
• Matsuura Takeshirō (Japan, 1818–1888), explorer, cartographer, writer, painter, priest, and antiquarian.
• Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler (1842–1922), American producer of pictorial maps
• Charles F. Hoffmann (Germany/United States, 1838–1913)
• James Gardner
• Charles E. Goad (1848 – 1910), English Canadian cartographer and pioneer of insurance maps
• William Hughes (geographer) FRGS (1818 – 21 May 1876), English geographer, mapmaker, cartographer and author.
• Gwynneth de Candia Vaughan (England 1879 - ?), British cartographer and mapmaker in the Australian territories.
• Felix Jones (England, 1813–1878)
• Florence Kelley (United States, 1859–1932), political reformer, director of the Chicago portion of the Hull House Maps and Papers
• Peter Kozler (Slovenia, 1824–1879), lawyer, geographer, politician, manufacturer
• Lilian Lancaster (1852–1939), British creator of anthropomorphic maps
• Rudolf Leuzinger (Switzerland, 1826–1896), known for mountain landscapes and geologic forms and the first to produce terrain maps in color lithography.
• Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun (France, 1816–1889)
• Heinrich Theodor Menke (Germany, 1819–1892)
• August Heinrich Petermann (18 April 1822 – 25 September 1878), German cartographer
• George Philip (1800–1882), cartographer, map publisher and founder of the publishing house George Philip & Son Ltd.
• Erwin Raisz (1893–1968)
• Daniel Alfred Sanborn (United States, 1827–1883), founder of the prolific insurance map provider Sanborn Map Company
• William Schmollinger (fl. 1830s)
• William R. Shepherd (1871–1934)
• Yuly Shokalsky (Russia, 1856–1940), also an oceanographer and geographer
• Karl Spruner von Merz (Germany, 1803–1892)
• John Tallis and Company (England, 1838–1851)
• Nicolas Auguste Tissot (France, 1824–1897) devised Tissot's indicatrix
• Shanawdithit (Canada, c. 1801–1829), created maps depicting the movement Beothuk people in Newfoundland
• Edward A. Vincent (England/United States, c. 1825–27 November 1856), cartographer, civil engineer, architect
• Nain Singh Rawat (India, 1830–1882), Cartographer and explorer
• Cope, Emmor B: Gettysburg Battlefield cartographer and first Gettysburg National Military Park superintendent
• Alexandre Vuillemin (France, 1812–1880)
• Ruth Taylor White (United States 1899 – ?), creator of pictorial maps of the United States
• John Francon Williams FRGS (1854–4 September 1911), editor, journalist, writer, geographer, historian, cartographer and inventor.
• Fanny Bullock Workman (United States, 1859–1925), geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer
• James Wyld (England, 1812–1887)
• Hatsusaburō Yoshida (Japan, 1884–1955)

• Regina Araújo de Almeida (Brazil, 1949– ), professor of geography at the University of São Paulo, tactile cartographer
• Jacques Bertin (France, 1918–2010)
• Josef Breu (Austria, 1914–1998)
• Cynthia Brewer (United States, 1957– ), developed ColorBrewer, professor at Penn State University
• Roger Brunet (1931– )
• Emanuela Casti (1950– ), formalized a semiotic theory of geographic maps
• Danny Dorling (1968– ), developed circular cartograms
• Marion A. Frieswyk (United States, 1922–2021), first female intelligence cartographer in the Central Intelligence Agency
• Ruth Rhoads Lepper Gardner (United States, 1905–2011), cartographer of the Maine coast
• Emily Garfield, (1987– ), cartographic artist
• Günther Hake (1922–2000)
• Richard Edes Harrison (1901–1994)
• Tom Harrisson (1911–1976)
• George F. Jenks (1916–1996)
• Elrey Borge Jeppesen (1907–1996)
• Ingrid Kretschmer (1939–2011)
• Toy Lasker (United States, 1919–2011), creator and editor of Flashmaps guidebooks
• Edgar Lehmann (1905–1990)
• Samuel Herbert Maw (1881–1952), architect, delineator and cartographer of Canada
• Kate McLean (United Kingdom) Best known for creating olfactory maps of cities
• Jess Miller (United States, 1988– ), artist, photographer, and cartographer of rural Arkansas
• Mark Monmonier (United States, 1943– ), wrote How to Lie with Maps and created the Monmonier Algorithm. Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University
• Mark Newman (1968– ), developed area contiguous cartograms using a diffusion-based method
• Rudi Ogrissek (1926–1999)
• Rafael Palacios (1905–1993), prolific map-drawer for major US publishers
• Phyllis Pearsall (England, 1906–1996), creator of the Geographers' A–Z Street Atlas
• Jacques Pervititch (Turkey, 1877–1945), creator of series of insurance maps of Istanbul
• Barbara Petchenik (1939–1992), first woman to serve as Vice President of the International Cartographic Association
• Edward Ayearst Reeves (1862–1945), British geographer, astronomer, and cartographer
• Arthur H. Robinson (1915–2004), wrote the influential textbook Elements of Cartography and developed the Robinson projection
• Abbas Sahab (1921–2000), Iranian cartographer, produced the first atlas of the Persian Gulf
• Paula Scher (United States, 1948– ), graphic designer, painter
• Joni Seagar (United States 1954– ), professor of geography at the University of Vermont
• Nikolas Schiller (1980– ), Arabesque maps composed of kaleidoscopic aerial photographs
• John C. Sherman (1916–1996)
• Jessamine Shumate (1902–1990)