The earliest known map depicting Jerusalem the Madaba map (c. 565), a mosaic on the floor of a Byzantine church in modern day Madaba, Jordan.  Maps of the Holy Land during the Middle Ages were mostly made by Christians and were more symbolic than geographical, seemingly trying to connect Jerusalem across space and time to Biblical events.  The printing press allowed for larger and more detailed maps to the published and circulated, such as the first modern atlas published by Abraham Ortelius in the sixteenth century. The first map to be published with the printing press was by Lucas Brandis in 1475, included in an encyclopedia about Christianity. Even after the advent of printing, map makers often drew from manuscript sources and sought to visualize historical periods, especially associated with the Frist Jewish Temple and the ancient Roman Empire.  

Maps made by Christians in various periods often ignored the presence of Muslims and Islamic history.  For example, Matthaeus Seutter’s eighteenth-century map of Palestine combines both geography and history, depicting the area from the time of the First Temple to the Roman period.  While less common, maps by Jews were also created and circulated.  These Jewish maps were often inspired by Christian maps, including history significant to the Jewish faith.  Shlomo of Helm (1717-1781), a Jewish scholar and rabbi, created a map of Israel divided among the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  Much later, Schottlaender printed a lithograph of Jerusalem in Breslau, c. 1900.  He included significant holy sites and the newly established Jewish colonies settled by the Zionist movement.