The popular trend for drones has highlighted an old human desire: to see the world from above and look upon the lives of those below. But how was this desire satisfied in a world before flying and spying? Zoltán Biedermann takes us to Renaissance Italy to find the expression of an earlier form of voyeurism. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/21CnWXa |

Narrated by Angus Waite | Music by Kai Engel and Lee Rosevere |

Zoltán is a historian at UCL, teaching in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies. He studies the cultural production of the Portuguese Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries, which includes chronicles, letters, travel accounts – and maps, many maps.