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Posted by: Amelia Raines
This post explores a unique Thai cloth map, acquired by the Geography and Map Division in 2023.
Posted in: 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography, Asian History, Borders, Manuscripts
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
An 1898 map allows for a close examination of the natural and political geography of colonization during the "Scramble for Africa" and the never-completed Cape to Cairo Railway.
Posted in: 19th century cartography, African History, Borders, Military History
Posted by: Amelia Raines
1960 was a dramatic year for Africa, in which 17 countries gained their independence from colonial powers. This post charts the events of that watershed year through a series of political maps produced by the CIA.
Posted in: 20th century cartography, African History, Borders, Middle East and North African History
Posted by: Amelia Raines
In 1884-85, a group of European dignitaries met in Berlin and delineated the boundaries of French, British, Belgian, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German colonies on the continent of Africa. Lines drawn on the map became administrative reality, and over the next few decades European governments busied themselves with exploring, surveying, and conquering their new territories. One …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, 20th century cartography, African History, Borders, European History, Exploration
Posted by: Sonia Kahn
To those of us here at home and across the American diaspora, September 11th has come to be a solemn day of mourning and remembrance. However in the region of Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, September 11th commemorates a different tragedy. Across the region, September 11th is known as La Diada, or the National …
Posted in: Borders, European History
Posted by: Amelia Raines
When Ohio became a state in 1803, breaking off from the Northwest Territory, parts of the border remained ambiguous. Three decades later, this ambiguity led to a conflict between Ohioans and Michiganders which became known as the Toledo War. In the state’s enabling act, the northern boundary of Ohio was defined as “an east and …
Posted in: 18th century cartography, 19th century cartography, American History, Borders
Posted by: Amelia Raines
Old maps are fantastic windows into history. If you want to know what the world was like 100, 200, or 500 years ago, you can look at a map published at that time and see where borders were located, what places were named, and what the land looked like (at least, to the degree of …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, American History, Borders
Posted by: Cynthia Smith
Letts’s bird’s eye view of the approaches to India by W.H. Payne was published in London during the early 1900s. Letts, Son & Co. sold stationary, maps and diaries, among them is this striking panoramic view that depicts Russian territory in the north marked with a red dotted line along the Amu Darya River. Mountain ranges, the …
Posted in: Asian History, Borders
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The following post is by Kim Edwin, a library technician in the Geography and Map Division. Since coming to the Washington, D.C. area and joining the Geography and Map Division, I have enjoyed learning about the early history of our nation’s capital through maps and place names. In studying maps from the city’s early years …
Posted in: Borders, City Histories