cartographic history news

A zoom in on the Mississippi River, with the Arkansas river to the upper left. Arkansas is spelt how it's pronounced- with a W at the end.

Map of the Month: April 2024

The political boundaries of North America have gone through many changes. As part of New Spain, Central America was known as the Captaincy General of Guatemala, or the Kingdom of Guatemala. The territory of Mexico used to contain the entire southwestern United States, and extended as far north as th...

A portion of the “Carte De La California” historic map depicting sections of all 5 historically significant cartographic changes in representing California. Each different map is separated by a thick black border. The interior of each section is a map of California, labeled “Californie”, and its major cities at the time which each segment was drafted.

Map of the Month: April 2022

Our April Map of the Month is titled “Carte de la Californie” and compares five recreations of historically significant maps of California to show the evolution of cartographic knowledge of the region. It was originally published as a supplemental material to Diderot’s Encyclopédie, and this particu...