The "discovery" of "remote" regions of the world by Western travelers and explorers was the necessary basis of both of these. The progressive charting of the globe that led to the creation of universal maps, in which perspective played little part in the representation of geographical position and form, established space as "independent" of any particular place or region.

DEFINE: Explains how universal maps with perspective-free representation of position established the concept of independent, abstract space.

Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Moderni…, loc. 55