Santo Domingo is the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean islands and the oldest continuously inhabited, European-established city in the Americas. Maps spanning over five hundred years of colonial contestation in the region provide a powerful account of the city’s historical importance for European colonial ambitions in the New World.
The Harlem Hellfighters, an African-American regiment of the US Army, recently received the Congressional Gold Medal to honor their service during World War I. Explore their story through these maps from the Geography & Map Division.
The Library of Congress holds an extensive collection of maps that have been printed, drawn and embroidered on cloth. This post features a few examples of textile maps held in the Geography and Map Division.
Taking place 245 years ago this month, the Battle of Camden was a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War. Through a series of battlefield maps by different cartographers, we can see how battle lines spelled disaster for American forces, but would also yield lessons to help win the war the following year.
In the early years of the Maryland colony, Lord Baltimore's name referred to his estates, an entire county, and a port town that would one day become the third largest city in the United States... 30 miles northeast of its current location.
Applications are now open for Philip Lee Phillips Society Fellowship at the Library of Congress. Scholars of the history of cartography, Geographic Information Science (GIS), digital humanities or related fields are encouraged to apply for this fellowship utilizing the collections of the Geography and Map Division.
Fascinating maps at various scales tell the story of the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, a pivotal moment in the Civil War and the contested fight for control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River.
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.
