Fabricating the World: Copperplate Printing
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Amelia Raines
3h ago
Last summer, I attended a course at the Rare Book School entitled Material Foundations of Map History, 1450-1900. Taught by distinguished map scholar Matthew Edney, the course explored the materiality of maps in all their forms. I found the course fascinating, educational, and stimulating; since attending, I’ve been inspired to delve deeper into the physical and material aspects of maps as objects, and to improve my understanding of common – and less-common – methods of map printing and production. Fortunately, I couldn’t ask for a better vantage point to explore the history of mapmaking ..read more
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From Mauka to Makai: The Ahupua’a of Hawai’i
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Abraham Parrish
1w ago
Ahupua’a are types of land divisions from ancient Hawai’i that typically ran from the mountains (mauka) towards the sea (makai) containing a cross section of island resources needed to support a community led by an ali’i ‘ai (chief) and managed by a konohiki (overseer and tax collector). Alexander, W.D., Map of the Island of Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands, 1886, Geography and Map. In the above, ahupua’a can be identified in large capital letters on land in the mauka to makai orientation (generally from a coastal point toward the center of the island). Ahupua’a were the main type of land division alt ..read more
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Antonio García Cubas and His Remarkable Atlas of Mexico
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Tim St. Onge
2w ago
Antonio García Cubas is recognized as one of the most skilled and accomplished cartographers in Mexican history. Out of his extensive body of work, which serves to chronicle Mexican geography through the country’s rapid modernizations of the late 19th century, one of García Cubas’s most visually memorable works may be the Atlas pintoresco é histórico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos from 1885. García Cubas was born in 1832 in Mexico City, where he would spend his career. Orphaned at a young age, he grew up to study geography and became a member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadístic ..read more
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Tracing the Alabama Coal Fields
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Meagan Snow
3w ago
At the southern end of the Appalachian Highlands sits the Warrior, Cahaba, and Coosa coal fields, situated in an area natively occupied by the Cherokee and Muskogean-speaking tribes in present-day Alabama. In 1819 the state of Alabama was admitted to the Union out of Mississippi Territory, and the map below, produced by John Melish in 1820, details what was known about the area around the time of the state’s founding. Cherokee lands were demarcated to the east, with Chickasaw lands to the west. Towards the center of the state is Black Warrior Town, a Creek settlement marked on the map as “burn ..read more
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From Cassini to Magellan: Unveiling the Topography of Venus
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Cynthia Smith
1M ago
Venus, one of the brightest planets in the night sky, was observed by people throughout history. The planet was given various names by ancient astronomers. In this post I am sharing maps of Venus dated from the 1700s to the early 1990s. Giovanni Domenico Cassini, an astronomer and topographer, observed the planets in our solar system from the mid 1600s until his death in 1712. He played a crucial role in the establishment of the Paris Observatory in 1671. Featured above is an illustration from an atlas that was published in 1754 by Nicolas de Fer. The illustration shows an image of Venus based ..read more
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With Love from our Cosmographic Heart
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Carissa Pastuch
1M ago
Hâcı Ahmed. Kemâliyle nakş olunmuş cümle cihan numûnesi. 1795. Geography and Map Division. This Valentine’s Day we wanted to do something romantic for our readers and bare our oversized heart-shaped map for all to see. This beautiful heart-shaped (or cordiform projection) map is one of 24 impressions made in 1795. The original map and accompanying geographic treatise were carved into six cherry wood blocks in 1559–60, but were confiscated and forgotten before they could be printed. It wasn’t until the late-18th century that the blocks resurfaced in the Council of Ten Archives and maps were pr ..read more
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Virtual Orientation to the Geography and Map Division: Tuesday 2/13
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Amelia Raines
1M ago
Curious about our collections? Please join Geography and Map Division staff tomorrow for a virtual orientation to our collections and resources! Date: Tuesday, February 13, 2023 Time: 3:00-4:00 pm (Eastern) Location: Zoom Register for this session here! Reference librarians Amelia Raines and Julie Stoner will present an introduction to the Geography and Map collections at the Library of Congress. This orientation session, aimed at the general public, will highlight a wide range of cartographic formats and subject matter. The focus of the session will be on maps and online resour ..read more
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Draining America
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Abraham Parrish
1M ago
A significant amount of U.S. wetlands were drained in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for agricultural and residential use.  In the First Update of the National Wetlands Status Report 1991, Dahl and Johnson of the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that only 103 million acres of the 221 million acres of wetlands remained in the conterminous U.S.  A total wetlands area about the combined size of Oregon and Utah were drained or affected in some way. Much of this drainage activity was bolstered by the Swamp Lands Act of 1849, 1850, and 1860, in which the Federal Government grant ..read more
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From the Mountains to the Mekong
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Amelia Raines
2M ago
In 2023, the Geography and Map Division (G&M) acquired a map which, even among the nearly 6 million cartographic items in our collection, is unique. Hand-drawn in blue and red ink onto a piece of cloth nearly 4 feet wide and more than 8 feet long, the map – or really two maps, one on each side – was made in the 18th or 19th century, presumably in Thailand. Each side shows a different area of Southeast Asia, each including part of Thailand and part of neighboring countries: modern Myanmar, on one side, Cambodia and Vietnam on the other. The text is in the Thai language and script. Both maps ..read more
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Propaganimals: Using the Lion to Politicize Geography
Library of Congress » Geography and Map
by Carissa Pastuch
2M ago
It is no secret maps have been used by those in power to promulgate ideologies. Each map tells a story from the cartographer’s—typically commissioned by the person or people in power—point of view. One popular technique employed by cartographers to politicize geography in the 16th and 17th centuries was to portray land forms—particularly those of empires and budding nations—as animals.  Referred to as a “zoomorphic” map, Leo Belgicus is widely considered one of the most well-known of its kind. This map uses the form of a lion superimposed over the Netherlands, or the Low Countries (presen ..read more
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