The Topic:  Historical Maps

Easier - People have used maps to locate places, measure distances, plan trips, and find their way.

 

Harder - The colonization of the Americas by Europeans created a need for many new maps. As pioneers moved westward, explorers and army engineers mapped trails and surveyed government lands.

A Dozen More Historical Map Websites

The American Civil War1861-1865 

http://www.californiacentralcoast.com/commun/map/civil/statepic/

This collection of maps maps show where Civil War battles were fought in each state, as well as brief descriptions of the battles.

 

Early California Explorers from Magellan maps. 

http://media.maps.com/magellan/Images/CALEXP-W2.gif

You can see the dates and routes taken by Ulloa, Cabrillo, and Vizcaino while exploring the coastal area that later became California.

Other California Historical Maps:

2) Gutierrez Map (First Map of California)

http://metalab.unc.edu/expo/1492.exhibit/d-Inventing.Amer/inventing.amer.html

3) Map of California in 1895 from the Color Landform Atlas of the United States http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/1895/ca_1895.jpg

 

Routes of First Three Crusades from Catholic Encyclopedia 

http://www.newadvent.org/images/04543cbx.jpg

Here is a map of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean at the time of the First Crusade and the routes of the first three Crusades.

More Crusade Maps:

2) Second and Third Crusades (Fordham University) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/maps/2ndcde.jpg

3) Routes of the Fourth and Later Crusades (Catholic Encyclopedia)

http://www.newadvent.org/images/04543ccx.jpg

4) Syria and the Holy Land at the Time of the Crusades (Catholic Encyclopedia) http://www.newadvent.org/images/04543cdx.jpg

 

Exploring the West from Monticello (University of Virginia) 

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/lewis_clark/home.html

This exhibit usies historical maps to trace the westward exploration in NorthAmerica. It features facts on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Other Lewis and Clark Mapsites:

2) Route West (Lewis and Clark) http://www.ndlewisandclark.com/lg_map_out.html

3) Route East (Lewis and Clark) http://www.ndlewisandclark.com/lg_map_rtrn.html

4) Maps (PBS Online-Lewis and Clark) http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/archive/maps.html

Another University of Virginia Collection:

5) U.S. Territorial Maps 1775-1920 http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/terr_hp.html

 

The Earth & the Heavens: The Art of the Mapmaker 

http://portico.bl.uk/exhibitions/maps/

This is a British library exhibit with some of the oldest historical maps that mapmakers used to try to determine the shape of the earth and of the cosmos.

 

Historical Maps from Early America (Archiving Early America) 

http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/maps/index.html

Here you find maps and information of some early battles, as well as a map of Boston.

 

Historical Maps Online 

http://www.cc.ukans.edu/cwis/units/kulib/docs/test.html

This is the links-page at the University of Kansas Thomas R. Smith Map Collection.

 

Map Case 

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/users/nnj/mapcase.htm

View a selection of worldwide historical maps from the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library Map Room.

 

Maps of Ancient Greece 

http://www.princeton.edu/~markwoon/Myth/myth-maps.html

Here you can compare how the Greeks mapped their civilization with how it really looked.

 

Map of the Byzantine World 

http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Byzantium/east.gif

This map is from the University of Michigan's Byzantium exhibit.

 

Portuguese Nautical Master Charts 

http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~feegi/maps.html

This website shows a changing World view by comparing views of sailing charts of 1440 to maps of 1516.

 

United States in 1895 

http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/1895/us_1895.jpg