Top of page
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
Posted by: Ryan Moore
The Orange Free State and the Transvaal (officially the South African Republic) were independent countries in southern Africa in the 19th century established largely by Dutch/Afrikaans-speaking settlers known as the Boers (Boer translates to “farmer” in Dutch). Occupying areas in what is today South Africa, the Boers of the 19th century were pastoral and religiously-oriented, …
Posted in: African History, Borders, Military History
Posted by: Julie Stoner
While many of the over six million maps in the Geography and Map Division are of a serious nature, there are also those meant to amuse the viewer. There is one such atlas in the collection titled Geographical fun : being humourous outlines of various countries, with an introduction and descriptive lines. Published in 1868, …
Posted in: Borders
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
The oldest set of federally placed monuments in the United States are strewn along busy streets, hidden in dense forests, lying unassumingly in residential front yards and church parking lots. Many are fortified by small iron fences, and one resides in the sea wall of a Potomac River lighthouse. Lining the current and former boundaries …
Posted in: Borders, City Histories
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
This is the second of a two part post on the Oregon Treaty and its aftermath. Part 1 can be found here. Earlier this week, we left our story of the Oregon Treaty on its peculiar instructions for the border between British and American controlled lands: following the 49th parallel to the Strait of Georgia, …
Posted in: Borders
Posted by: Tim St. Onge
This is the first of a two part post on the Oregon Treaty of 1846 and its aftermath. This week, specifically June 15th, marks an important event in the history of the United States’ changing geography: the 170th anniversary of the signing of the Oregon Treaty. I know, you probably don’t have this event marked …
Posted in: Borders
Posted by: Ryan Moore
In 1915, the deadlocked battleground on the Western Front in World War I forced England and France to rethink their strategy against the Central Powers. The Allies sought to elicit military support from a then neutral Italy. In exchange for opening a front in the Alps, Italy was promised substantial amounts land in Europe, Asia, …
Posted in: Borders, Military History
Posted by: Ryan Moore
Architect and urban planner Julio César Pérez-Hernández will discuss the history of Cuba through cartography on May 13, 2016 at the Library of Congress. “Islands in the Stream: Cuban Maps from the Past to the Future” will take place from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, May 13 in the Mumford Room on the sixth …
Posted in: Borders, City Histories, Events, Exploring the Early Americas