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Posted by: Cynthia Smith
Featured below is a map known as the “Map with Ship.” The map was donated to the Library of Congress in 1943 by a retired merchant and author named Marcian F. Rossi. Marcian Rossi was born in Italy in 1870. He moved to the United States during the 1880s. The Rossi family inherited a collection …
Posted in: Asian History, European History, Exploration
Posted by: Cynthia Smith
During the 19th century Paris underwent a major urban renewal. I am focusing on some of the maps that were published before, during, and after the renovation of Paris. Before the renovation, the residents of central Paris suffered from cholera epidemics, overcrowding and a high infant mortality rate. The Bievre River, which flowed into the …
Posted in: 19th century cartography, City Histories, European History
Posted by: Amelia Raines
In 1798, James Rennell, an English cartographer primarily known for his maps of British territories in India and South Asia, published A map shewing the progress of discovery & improvement, in the geography of North Africa. This map combined geographical information gathered from sources spanning more than 1.5 millennia, from recent explorers all the way …
Posted in: 18th century cartography, African History, European History, Exploration
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: Amelia Raines
In 1764, Le petit atlas maritime – “the little maritime atlas” – was published in Paris. Consisting of 5 volumes, each about 14 inches tall and containing 581 maps in total, Le petit atlas maritime is not particularly little. Its subject matter, in fact, is expansive: individual volumes are dedicated to maps of North America and the …
Posted in: 18th century cartography, African History, American History, 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: Cynthia Smith
Early maps of Iceland are compelling, they are often embellished with sea monsters and pictorials. Modern maps of the country are equally interesting because of the unique shape and terrain of the island. Iceland, with its glaciers and volcanoes, is accurately nicknamed the “Land of Fire and Ice.” The maps of Iceland featured in this …
Posted in: 16th century cartography, 17th century cartography, 19th century cartography, European History, Exploration
Posted by: Cynthia Smith
During the mid-17th century the Dutch mapmaker Joan Blaeu published an atlas that contains finely engraved maps of the major cities of the Netherlands. In 1649 Joan Blaeu published the first edition of the atlas in Latin, in 1652 he published the second edition in Dutch. The title of the atlas Toonneel der steden van …
Posted in: 17th century cartography, Biography, European History
Posted by: Mike Klein
It is only natural that Rome, by reputation being the “Eternal City,” has evolved over its roughly twenty-seven-hundred-year existence. Even the briefest visitor would be hard-pressed to overlook the glut of imperial detritus, some ancient, most merely old, and some modern. All the relics from the latest phase seemingly appertain to the ill-fated regime of …
Posted in: 20th century cartography, European History