Royal Geographical Society (fl. 1830 - present) is a British Society established in 1830 to promote geographical science and exploration. Originally titled the "Geographical Society of London", the RGS received its royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1859 shortly after absorbing several similar but more regional societies including the African Association, the Raleigh Club and the Palestine Association. The RGS sponsored many of the most important and exciting voyages of exploration ever undertaken, including the exploration of Charles Darwin, David Livingstone, Robert Falcon Scott, Richard F. Burton, John Speke, George Hayward, H. M Stanley, Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmond Hillary. Today, the RGS remains a leading global sponsor of geographical and scientific studies. The Society is based in Lowther Lodge, South Kensington, London. More by this mapmaker...

Edward Weller (July 1, 1819 - 1884) was a cartographer and engraver based in London. Weller was a nephew of another well-known map publisher Sidney Hall (1788 - 1831), who gave him 50 Pounds to pay his apprenticeship fees. He engraved for many prominent mapmakers and was active enough in the community to be recommended for membership to the Royal Geographical Society in 1851 on the recommendation of John Arrowsmith, among others. He eventually inherited the Sidney Hall map business which led him to follow Arrowsmith as the unofficial geographer to the Royal Geographical Society. Weller was among the first map printers in London to embrace lithography. His best known work appears in Cassell's Weekly Dispatch Atlas, published in monthly segments for subscribers of the 'Weekly Dispatch' newspaper. This collection of maps eventually grew to include much of the known world. Published in various editions from 1855 through the early 1880s. Weller died in May of 1884, leaving behind a successful business and an unhappy widow. His son, Francis Sidney Weller (1849 - 1910), followed in his father's footsteps and continued the family map business. The atlas Mackenzie's Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales was published in 1894 and bore F. S. Weller's signature on the maps. Learn More...

Björn Gunnlaugsson (September 25, 1788 - March 17, 1876) was an Icelandic cartographer, teacher, and mathematician. Born in Tannstaðir, Gunnlaugsson was educated by local priests and passed an exam in Reykjavík in 1808, for which he obtained a recommendation from the bishop to study at the University of Copenhagen. His education was delayed by wars, first the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom and then the Napoleonic Wars. Gunnlaugsson finally enrolled at the University of Copenhagen in 1817 and studied theology and mathematics. During his time at university, he twice won the university's gold medal for mathematics. He returned to Iceland in 1822 when he was offered a job as a teacher of Danish, mathematics, and history at the school of Bessastaðir. Gunnlaugsson is best known for undertaking the first scientific survey of the entire island of Iceland. Sponsored by the Literary Society of Iceland, he spent the summers from 1831 until 1843 surveying the country. Gunnlaugsson's surveys served as the basis for maps of Iceland for the next one hundred years with new maps based on new surveys appearing only after World War II. For his work, Gunnlaugsson received the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1846 and the Knight's Cross of the French Légion d'honneur. When the school moved to Rekjavík in 1846, Gunnlaugsson followed. He retired in 1862. Gunnlaugsson married twice: first to Ragnheiður Bjarnadóttir, who died in 1834 and then to Guðlaug Aradóttir in 1844, and she died in 1873. Learn More...