This publication is the first textbook prepared on the basis of the lecture course of the same name, which has been taught to students of the Department of Cartography and Geoinformatics of the Geographical Faculty of Moscow University since 1994. The wide time coverage and meaningful completeness of the considered maps-monuments of domestic culture and science makes this manual useful not only for students of other departments of the Faculty of Geography, but also for students of the faculties of soil science and geological science.