From the time the first cave man discovered better bison were on another plain further away, mankind has been fascinated by topography. The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans traveled far for commerce, colonization, and war. They brought back descriptions of previously unknown lands, cities, and peoples, which they literally and figuratively incorporated into their painting and pottery. Medieval Europeans never got further than the boundaries of their town or fiefdom, were enthralled by descriptions of foreign lands brought back by the Crusaders and wove them into their tapestries and folk tales. With the discovery of vanishing point perspective, 16th century landscapes became more detailed. Knowledge of the world expanded and a more learned society demanded more realistic representations. In the 17th century, landscapes were not only backgrounds for figural studies but were valued as a subject independently. Mostly black and white engravings, they translate a turbulent world into a stable and ordered form. In the 18th century, landscapes and city views reflect, often in color, the more traveled world of the upper classes as they begin the "Age of the Grand Tour" or the rebuilding of their cities, often changed overnight by fire, flood or battle. In the 19th century, topographical views flourish. The rise of a middle class with money and leisure along with the advent of the steamship and the railroad encouraged detailed travel views which were collected and in order to keep up with the expanding world.

Long before the camera was invented, people recorded their travels by purchasing prints to remind them of a particular country, city, building, or event. For over four hundred years, these graphics chronicled the expanding world in maps, city views, architecture, and native customs or costumes. Beginning with the Gothic images of various cities of the world depicted in the Nuremberg Chronicle, people whose real world never exceeded the boundaries of their towns and fiefdoms suddenly had the added perspective of a world, oceans away, and completely foreign. Prints of this genre are known as topography and come in a wide variety of subjects, sizes, styles, and dates. By the late 19th century the invention of the camera made unnecessary an artist’s interpretation of topography.